IT HAS taken Andy Murray 21 years to become an overnight success. Scotland's finest has been the best that Britain has to offer since February 2006 and he has been one of the best of the group of young men hoping to make his mark on the world stage since he joined the main tour in 2005. But in the past two weeks, the whole of New York has realised that Murray is a grand slam champion in waiting. Maybe not here, maybe not now, but it will happen – and sooner rather than later.
His run through to the final weekend of the US Open has completed a remarkable summer for the Scot, one that has moved him up from the chasing pack who have been running just behind Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at the top of the ran
kings and into that elite group at the very top. The triumvirate who had set themselves apart from the rest in the locker room has now become a gang of four.
Murray has long believed that he has the talent to live with the big boys, and his results in the past four months have proved that, but by reaching the last four at the US Open, everyone knows that he is one of the world's finest, too. Whatever the outcome of this weekend's endeavours, Murray had made it to the top.
No one likes to play Murray. His game is designed to tie any opponent up in knots while his physical strength and competitive fire mean that he simply will not give up. Even the muscular Nadal takes one look at the Scot's name on the drawsheet and sighs – he knows he will be in for tough day. Nadal's uncle and coach, Toni, has been waiting for the moment when Murray would join the elite with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.
"No, no, no, Rafa does not like to play Andy," he laughed. "Rafa enjoys to play against bad players in the ATP rankings. The worst.
"I think Murray will be a top player for the next four, five, I don't know how many years. It's normal at 21 years old to be at your best – I don't know how high in the rankings – but for four years, I think. And Andy has many parts to his game: he has a good serve, backhand, the drive is (also] good and he is very intelligent in the court. Murray has to be one of the best players in the next years. I don't know which number: one, two, three, four. But I think he has to be there."
From the very first moment Toni saw Murray play at a junior event in France, he recognised the talent on show. Murray was not the usual junior trying to welt the ball at every opportunity – he thought quickly and constructed each point cleverly; he used his touch and feel to lure his opponent into his trap. And if Murray was that good as a teenager then it stood to reason that he would only improve with age. Toni has been expecting the Scot to join his nephew at the top for a while now.
"I thought so because when I saw him for the first time, he was very young and he played really good," Toni said. "And normally, when you are 18 years old or 19 years old and you play so good, it is normal that when you are 20 or 21, you play much better. Rafael played against Andy in the Australian Open one and a half years ago and it was a difficult match. Like I say, it's normal that he will get better with every year and now he's very, very good."
From the start of the tournament, Toni had highlighted Murray as one of the favourites to win the title. His nephew would ultimately have the say in whether the Scot achieved his goal or not, but Toni is expecting Murray to feature large in the Nadal family's life for many years to come.
"For Andy, it's time I think," Toni said. "Maybe he can win a grand slam title this weekend. I hope he can't and that Rafa will, but Andy can win a grand slam. But if he loses this year, maybe next year he will win, I think. Andy will win a grand slam title in the next few years, even in the next days because he is very good. Really good.
"When he can win a Masters Series title, like he did in Cincinnati, when he beat Djokovic in the final, then he can win here. And when he is in the semi-finals of a grand slam, it's not too difficult to think he can win the tournament. This one or Wimbledon or the Australian Open. Maybe Roland Garros is a little difficult for him but in the other three he can win. I think he is one of those who has more possibility to win many grand slams in the next years."
Tomorrow morning the rankings computer will spit out the latest world order and Murray will be No.4. Still predicting that his best is yet to come and that he will not be at his peak for another year or so, it is a remarkable platform from which to launch his assault on the top. It took Tim Henman until he was 28 to scale the heights of No.4, a position he held for just five weeks in 2002 and then again for another five weeks in 2004 when he was a veteran of 30. As for Greg Rusedski, he was 24 when he reached the same position but he stayed there for just two weeks.
Murray has long since outgrown the usual expectations placed upon any home-grown player. For him, it is not enough to be the gallant, plucky Brit, occasionally flying the flag in the latter stages of a tournament – Murray wants to win and, after his breakthrough here, he knows he can do it. Even his major rivals know that it is no longer a case of if Murray can win a major title, but when.
• Serena Williams is relishing the chance to capture her first US Open title in six years after the fourth-seeded American moved into the final with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Dinara Safina of Russia. Williams will go for her ninth grand slam title – and first since the 2007 Australian Open – against Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, who defeated Elena Dementieva of Russia in the earlier semi-final.
The full article contains 1119 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
