2009

January: Wins pre-season Abu Dhabi exhibition event, beating top-seed Rafael Nadal. Murray defeated Roger Federer in the semi-final. He then successfully defends his title at Qatar Open. Winning his ninth ATP Tour title, Murray swept past Federer in the semi-final before making short work of American big-hitter Andy Roddick.

Seeded fourth for the Australian Open later in the month, the press and bookmakers tipped the Scot to win his first Grand Slam title. This irritated some of the other players on the tour, notably Federer who was quick to point out the difference between winning an ATP title and a Grand Slam. Murray went out in the fourth round to Fernando Verdasco.

February: Murray took his second tour title of the year at the Rotterdam Open, sailing through the field of opponents before meeting Nadal in the final. Nadal suffered a recurring knee problem but played on. Murray won 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. Suffering from an ankle injury which he picked up during the Rotterdam tournament, Murray missed the Marseille Open and then pulled out of the Dubai Tournament with a virus later the same month.

March: After missing the Davis Cup through the same virus, Murray entered the first Masters Series event of the year at Indian Wells. He defeated Federer in the semi-final before losing to world number one Nadal. He then won his 11th career title by beating Novak Djokovic in the final of the Miami Masters. In doing so, he equalled the number of career titles won by Tim Henman.

May: Murray became the first ever British player to break into the ATP top three after the ATP Masters in Rome. Djokovic, won the tournament last year but failed to do so again, so despite crashing out in the second round, Murray overtook the Serbian to leapfrog into third place on the rankings.

June: After overcoming Juan Ignacio Chela, Potito Starace, Janko Tipsarevic and Marin Celic, Murray went out of the French Open at the quarter final stage to Fernando Gonzalez. In doing so, he set his personal best result at Roland Garros, having only managed to reach the third round previously.

Also in June, the grass court season began for Murray with success at the Queen’s Club championships in London. His victory over James Blake, his first tournament success on grass, made him the first British winner since 1938. He then went on to become the highest seeded Brit ever at Wimbledon when he was named second seed after the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal due to injury. After playing the first match under the new roof on Centre Court, he went further than even before at the competition but fell at the semi-final stage to Andy Roddick over four sets.

August: Murray got over the heartbreak of coming within a whisker of reaching the Wimbledon final by winning the Montreal Masters against Juan Martin del Potro. That success saw him rise to number two in the world, breaking the four year top two dominance of Nadal and Federer.

September: Disappointed at the US Open one year on from reaching the final, losing to Marin Cilic in the fourth round. He subsequently dropped from second to fourth in the world after missing several tournaments with a wrist injury.

November: Further success came in the form of a tournament win at the Valencia Open, with a final win over Mikhail Youzhny. Seeded fourth for the Paris Masters shortly after, he lost to Radek Stepanek in the second round over three sets.

December: A qualifier for the ATP World Tour Finals for the second successive year, Murray took on Federer, del Potro and Verdasco in his group at the O2 Arena in London. Wins over del Potro and Verdasco should have seen him through to the latter stages, but complex maths over who would qualify from the group saw the Scot lose out to del Potro on the percentage of games won. Del Potro won through with a 45-43 record, compared to Murray’s 44-43.

2010

January: Began the year by representing Great Britain at the Hopman Cup, choosing to acclimatise at the tournament ahead of his participation at the Australia Open. Together with Laura Robson, Murray progressed to the final, before defeat to Spain.

Fifth seed at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Murray marched on to the semi finals for the first time in his tour career. Kevin Anderson, Marc Gicquel, Florent Serra and John Isner were overcome in the first four rounds, before a hugely encouraging performance against Rafael Nadal in the quarter finals. With Murray two sets to love ahead, the Spaniard retired in the third because of a knee injury, putting the British number one through to a semi final with Marin Cilic.

He recovered from a set down against Cilic to set up a final with either Roger Federer or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final, his first Australian Open final and the second Grand Slam final of his career.

1997- 2005: Andy Murray: the early years
2006-2008: Andy Murray: his rise through the rankings