"If you see how he reacted to that compared to winning a Grand Slam...": Andy Murray explains why Olympic success tops his career

Andy Murray recently made an appearance on Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips YouTube channel, giving a candid interview while playing snooker. One of the topics the three-time major champion touched on was his rivalry against Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, and he highlighted the achievement that sets him apart from the legendary Big 3: his two Olympic gold medals in singles, being the only tennis player to achieve this.

Murray took home the singles gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, something none of the Big 3 achieved: While Nadal won his Olympic gold in Beijing 2008, Djokovic only did so recently in Paris 2024. Federer, on the other hand, only came away with a silver medal in London, falling precisely to Murray in the final.

The Brit referred to the moment he realized that tennis was more than a hobby and could become a professional career. Murray reflected on his first Davis Cup practices alongside British legends Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski. “I actually probably got some of it in practice,” he said. “When I was 15 or 16 at the academy, I got the opportunity to play with top 10 players in the world and was doing all right.”

“Then, being part of our Davis Cup team as a hitting partner, playing with Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, feeling like I could compete with them gave me confidence. And then I won the US Open Junior tournament when I was 17. That was a big moment.”

The two-time Wimbledon champion is often the subject of debate regarding whether he is a member of the "Big 4" or a rival who fell just behind the dominance of the three best players in history—all with at least 20 major titles. Beyond the discussions, the truth is that Murray knew how to challenge them at various points in their careers and was the only tennis player to interrupt almost 20 years of dominance during three specific seasons.

The Scot finished his career back in 2024, after winning 46 singles titles—including three Grand Slams—and ranking as World No. 1 for a total of 41 weeks. The Brit reached 11 major finals, although he was ‘only’ champion in three of them: the US Open (2012) and Wimbledon (2013, 2016). However, he recognizes that the achievement that makes him proudest is his successful run in the Olympic Games. Murray is the only player, male or female, to win two Olympic gold medals in singles, which he did at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.

“You get very few chances at the Olympics, and you're never going to get another chance at a home Olympics. The atmosphere was totally different; everyone was so loving. Djokovic won the Olympics in Paris recently, and if you see how he reacted to that compared to winning a Grand Slam, he was significantly more emotional.”

During the interview, Murray acknowledged that it is not easy to have friends when you are at the front of the Tour, especially with those who were his direct rivals. “Not at the top of the game. I would practice with Djokovic and Nadal. I practiced with Federer when I first started, but then he stopped practicing with me after a year or two. He never practiced with Djokovic or Nadal. I think he considered them to be competitors.”

“I liked practicing with them because it gave me a chance to see where my game was at, but I was never going for dinner with them. Whereas now, I would love to do that. When you're competing against them, you don't want to show weakness. You don't want to say, 'Oh, I'm really in trouble with my backhand,' because next game they just put it there all the time.”