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Final tributes
althusser
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The farewell media pieces are starting to roll in.

Rightly, these tends to emphasise an incredible fighting spirit, perseverance and will to win. Though I sometimes feel that his talent gets underplayed. To my mind he did well to succeed without any killer weapon shot, compensating with great selection and all round skills. Lobs were a standout - brilliant.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/02/murray-exits-as-one-of-the-greatest-with-a-legacy-as-a-true-fighter
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Aileen
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Excellent article.  Wouldn't disagree with any of it.  It also confirms that winning multiple Slams like Djoko, Nadal and Fed have doesn't necessarily make a great tennis player.  Andy suffered a few heart-breaking defeats at their hands but never gave up, just went away, worked even harder, and bounced back.  Even his hip failure and subsequent op did nothing to stop him - maybe a fraction slower than before but the game and the will to win were always there.  Even when he was just a skinny 18 year old you just knew that he was going to make it right to the very top however long it took him to get there.
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ChrisMac
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lovely posts 
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Tamaragl
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I don't know if anyone on MW is a fan of the Tennis Podcast—I am a huge one—but if we're talking tributes the Podcast has produced a wonderful one by a writer called Hannah Wilks who is the Pod's social media editor and also moderates the comments when they do live shows on YouTube. Her columns are usually behind the Friends of the Podcast paywall but they made this one public because everyone liked it so much. So I think it's okay to reproduce it, below.

This is an excerpt from Hannah Wilks' latest monthly column for Friends of The Tennis Podcast.

I’ve been trying to avoid writing the words ‘Andy Murray’s last Wimbledon’, but I don’t think I can put it off any longer, and adding ‘(probably)’ doesn’t help. Doesn’t it feel like it’s over, bar the expletive-laden shouting, even if we’re no more ready for it to be the end than he is? Anyway, Murray’s tearful retirement documentary came out four years ago; this really has been a bonus - in open defiance of bones! – and a coda which has distilled his career down to its most essential quality, namely sheer bloody-mindedness. They shouldn’t put up a statue to Andy Murray at Wimbledon. They should just send for a trilithon-sized granite boulder and put it somewhere in the way; if you want to get to Centre Court, you have to get past this.

It's all David’s fault [she means David Law, one of the three podcasters), because he brought up the Richard Gasquet match from 2008 during last week’s pod and now I can’t stop thinking about it. Yes, the moment, the one that launched a thousand montages: the cross-court-run, the flick, the flex, the roar as camera flashes exploded unstoppably in the dying light. But also the match as a whole. What I remember, watching it then, was the slow, slow realization dawning on me: So, this Andy Murray guy is really good. Not just British-at-Wimbledon good, but properly good. (I know everybody else already knew, but I was raised on plucky failures! I wasn’t prepared!)

What I think now, watching it back, is how apposite it was that Gasquet was the man across the net. Because this is the thing that I can’t stop wanting to tell people about Andy Murray, that I have been accused of accosting virtual strangers with, that I don’t think people understand: He could so easily have been a Gasquet. There’s been a lot of talk on the pod lately about the comfortable life it’s possible to live if you come from a Grand Slam nation; Andy Murray could have dined out on that 2008 comeback win for the rest of his life, he really could. He could have got to a certain stage in his career, seen how tough the Big Three were, thrown up his hands, said ‘Oh well, born in the wrong era’ and done what was comfortable for him for the rest of his career; been roared on at Wimbledon, nibbled off a 500 title here, made a quarterfinal run at a Slam there, retired a might-have-been. It would have been so easy. It would have been so easy!

Instead he turned himself inside out, left no stone unturned (and no joint unstressed), swallowed his pride, straitjacketed his magnificently improvisational game, sweated his guts out in Miami, lay still with nerves screaming, unpacked his trauma on a sofa with Sue Barker for the eyes of the nation, got closer, got further away, piled up the plates, dreamed he won the trophy, woke up. Got back to work. Turned himself into the man who stared down the barrel of a fifth set against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the tournament all but on his racquet, and said, loud enough for everybody to hear: ‘There’s no ******* way I’m losing this match.’ And I believed him. And it was true. 

He did what we – The British Crowd – had no right to expect, and even if he didn’t do it for us, we got to go along for the ride. Not one but two ‘where were you when…?’s. How did we get so lucky? Will we ever be so undeservedly fortunate again? Probably not. Thank you, Andy.
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althusser
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Very nice tribute Tamargl - an especially good one for the committed fans who will recall the specific matches well.
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notnek
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Came back one last time to say goodbye to this chapter of Andy's life. I'm a similar age to Andy and started following him when we were both teenagers. He's been a huge part of my life as I've grown up and I'm just sad that I won't be able to look forward to his next match anymore. But luckily there are so many great memories that I can rewatch again and again, and eventually show to my kids and grandkids.

Thanks you so much Andy.
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Elly
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Had to also come back on to echo all sentiments.  Thank you Andy - always our hero! 
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scotnadian
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Quote from: Elly on August 01, 2024, 09:04 pm
Had to also come back on to echo all sentiments.  Thank you Andy - always our hero! 
Elly
 wub
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althusser
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 thumb up thumb up
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notnek
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Love this:

https://twitter.com/the_LTA/status/1819098960616628250
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scotjules
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Resurrected my account to say grateful for all the memories Andy has given us over the years. I watched tennis before Andy but I don't think it will ever quite be the same for me again. What a career!

Thanks also to everyone involved in MW over the years. 
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Brodie96
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First time I've created an account on here, and probably the 1st and only time I'll ever use it haha. But I just wanted to say thanks so much Andy! You've done us all proud, especially your home here in the UK. It's been a pleasure watching you play from my teen years and into my 20's. The last several years certainly haven't been easy for you, though I respect you so much for pushing forward and persevering!

Hope you enjoy more leisurely, stress-free games of tennis. I also wish you well in future endeavors.
[ Last edit by Brodie96 August 01, 2024, 09:57 pm ] IP Logged
boogers
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A legend of the game, and a true gent. He'll be missed, even by those of us who got grumpy during those five set rollercoasters...
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Tonedial
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robbie
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Thank you Andrew Barron Murray and goodbye. 
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MurraysWorld  >  Andy Talk  >  Final tributes