Andy Murray is one of the top tennis players in the world, but he hasn’t won a grand slam title. He’s been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world, currently ranked No. 4, and he’s won 22 tournaments. The Scotsman reached the semifinals of Wimbledon for the fourth straight year, and he’s hoping to advance to the final and win his first major.
After beating David Ferrer on Wednesday, Murray was asked about his inability to win a grand slam event. He was asked if there was anyone to whom his career compares.
“LeBron James would be a good example,” said Murray, according to Reuters. “He obviously is a great basketball player. He came very close to winning quite a lot of times. Him winning this year I’m sure was massive. For me as a basketball fan it was nice to see.
“I would say for me I guess it’s a similar situation. I’ve been close a lot of times and not quite made it.
In case you weren’t already convinced, Murray confirmed that he is a big NBA fan.
“I follow basketball a lot and watch a lot of the sports news and stuff,” he said. “There’s a lot of people out there that didn’t want [LeBron] to win.
“There’s a lot of people that said he would never win. There’s a lot of people who said he never played his best in finals. In the fourth quarter of games he never steps up. Then you see how he played the whole of the finals, the whole of the playoffs.”
Murray is 25 and believes his patience will pay off.
“Sometimes it takes guys a bit longer than others,” he said. “You know, you just have to keep putting myself in the position, and hopefully it will click.”
While I must say I enjoy hearing Murray talk basketball and cross-reference sports, his situation is different from James. There is pressure on him to finally win a major, but it’s nothing like the pressure LeBron faced to win a title. Murray wasn’t on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was 16. Murray hasn’t been considered the top player in his sport the past 3-4 years. He happens to play in a difficult era where guys like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal have dominated.
Murray has come close to winning a major a few times — he lost in the Australian Open finals twice — and he’ll probably win one or two before his career is over. He just needs to keep fighting, block out his critics, and hope he catches a break or two. It will be a great moment for him when it does happen, but it won’t be the same thing as when LeBron did.
