The world was left as soon as once more shocked as Sir Andy Murray produced one of many all-time nice comebacks in his almost six hour thriller in opposition to Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Each males did every thing of their energy to win however a 3rd set blow up from the Aussie opened the door and the Brit stepped by, coming from two units down for a file eleventh time in his profession.
He moved previous Roger Federer, Boris Becker and Aaron Krickstein, every who had achieved the feat 10 instances.
However whereas Murray is beloved world wide as an absolute champion, he arrived within the fallacious period and has a declare because the fourth greatest participant in tennis historical past.
Whereas the Large Three of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are rightly locked in a debate because the GOATs of the sport, Murray is one of the best of the remainder, even when his file doesn’t fairly say that.
Though Nadal is on high with 22, adopted by Djokovic on 21 and Federer on 20, Murray’s grand slam tally is method again in a five-way tie for 18th because of his three titles.
That’s largely attributable to Murray’s eight finals losses, together with 5 on the Australian Open.
He misplaced in 2010 to Federer, earlier than 4 instances in six years to Djokovic.
Actually, in each grand slam he has gone to the quarterfinals or past, minus the grand slam he gained, Murray has was knocked out by a member of the Large Three in 19 of 27 grand slams.
Murray grand slam losses in quarterfinals and past
— 8: Novak Djokovic: AO F 2011, AO SF 2012, AO F 2013, US QF 2014, AO F 2015, FO SF 2015, AO F 2016, FO F 2016
— 6: Rafael Nadal: W QF 2008, W SF 2010, FO SF 2011, W SF 2011, US SF 2011, FO SF 2014
— 5: Roger Federer: US F 2008, AO F 2010, W F 2012, AO QF 2014, W SF 2015,
— 2: Stan Wawrinka: US QF 2013, FO SF 2017
— 1: Fernando Gonzalez: FO QF 2009, Andy Roddick: W SF 2009, David Ferrer: FO QF 2012, Grigor Dimitrov: W QF 2014, Kei Nishikori: US QF 2016, Sam Querrey: W QF 2017
* Murray gained US Open 2012, Wimbledon 2013 and Wimbledon 2016 — has made 30 grand slam quarterfinals all up
Though Ivan Lendl additionally misplaced extra finals than Murray at 11 (Murray has solely misplaced 8), usually his path was blocked by the Large Three.
Three years in the past, a Reddit person named u/fiodor puzzled how would Murray have fared with out the Large Three in his method.
The equation was pretty easy because the grand slam was awarded to the participant exterior the Large Three who made it the furthest, and if there have been a number of gamers, it was the one who misplaced to the champion.
The checklist begins with the 2003 Wimbledon title, Federer’s first grand slam win.
If this was the case, on the time of the checklist on September 10 2019, there can be 34 totally different winners and would have seen the likes of Stan Wawrinka and Andy Roddick win 5, Marin Cilic 4 and a bunch of gamers who by no means gained a title — Richard Gasquet, David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Dominic Thiem, Robin Soderling and Niklay Davydenko all win a number of titles.
Aussie Mark Philippoussis would even have been a grand slam winner, whereas Lleyton Hewitt would have added a 3rd.
How would Murray have gone? He would have moved previous former file holder Pete Sampras’ 14 grand slam titles with 15.
The checklist will not be completely scientific as totally different champions would have reshaped rankings and who is aware of who would have come by the sector but it surely’s an attention-grabbing thought experiment.
And if Murray isn’t the fourth greatest participant of all-time, he’s definitely the unluckiest to line up in opposition to the Large Three.
After his epic win over Kokkinakis on Thursday, one of many commentators mentioned of the pair who had performed till simply after 4am in an almost six hour match that: “They’ll each take away one thing a lot extra helpful than rankings factors or prizemoney and that’s respect.
“Respect is all the time earned and by no means given they usually have earned it from each single nook, not solely of this stadium, however of the globe as nicely.”
From 2019 when he was in tears, telegraphing his retirement on the Australian Open forward of hip resurfacing surgical procedure to Thursday night time/Friday morning’s recreation, he definitely has the world’s respect.
World No. 40 Reilly Opelka tweeted after the match: “Murray is 4th all time”.
Creator and former footballer Justin Bryant defended the place, including: “Folks, don’t debate this by saying ‘However Pete/Borg/Andre/Mac/Lendl’ and so on. It doesn’t matter. Perceive what Reilly is *actually* saying: Andy Murray is f**king superior.”
CBC’s Tom Harrington commented: “A shocking comeback within the gorgeous comeback of Andy Murray. At 35 with a synthetic hip, he’s already writing probably the greatest sports activities tales of the yr.”
The BBC’s Wyre Davies opined: “He could also be previous his greatest and possibly doesn’t know when he’s overwhelmed however @andy_murray can certainly be thought-about the best British sportsperson of his era. A real world-beater and a never-say-die perspective past evaluate. #bbcsport “
West London Sport’s Ian McCullough wrote: “Stated it greater than as soon as and been lambasted for it – however keep that Andy Murray is one of the best sportsman to return out of Britain.”
Sports activities broadcaster Jonathan Overend posted: “The legend grows and grows. Sir Andy Murray”.
Murray’s Australian Open dream isn’t over both, regardless of the actual fact he’s taking part in the third spherical in opposition to the one seeded participant left in his quarter of the draw — and regardless of Novak Djokovic is the possible semi-final opponent the winner of his quarter.
It’s time we give Murray his due respect.
