Andy Murray is one of the Big Four members, and all that he has accomplished thus far makes him a central figure in men's tennis recent history. He may not have achieved supreme greatness or ultimate glory, but the context in which his professional career unfolded played a crucial part of the equation.
Having spent almost a decade in the vicinity of the ATP summit, Andy Murray grew wiser and started to fill in the gaps. Eventually, he did ascent at the summit becoming the 26th player to hold the rankings in the Open Era. A grueling hip injury followed by arthroscopic surgery sent Andy Murray away in a moment when his freshly started reign was getting traction.
Andy Murray as being part of arguably the best era in men's tennis
Andy Murray will turn 31 later this year in May. He and Novak Djokovic were born just days from one another as the Serb will turn 31 too. Rafael Nadal will turn 32 in June. Therefore, three tennis greats have been sharing the same ride for nearly a decade. And, of course, Roger Federer has been there too, and despite not being in his prime throughout this particular time span, the Swiss made his contribution.
Under these circumstances, and also knowing how much Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have achieved all-together, it would have been impossible for Andy Murray to hope for more. Even so, the Brit has accumulated some great numbers under his belt.
In fact, these numbers are themselves hard to comprehend for most of the current top players.
Overall, Andy Murray has won three Grand Slam titles. He has eight more finals under his belt (all of them were lost to Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, so there was to easy path there). In addition, and just to give you a proper sense of his consistency, Murray made it into ten more semifinals.
That means a total of 21 Grand Slam semis being in his pocket.
Wawrinka argument won't stand
In recent years, men's tennis has known Stan Wawrinka and his inspirational story. A late-bloomer by all means, Swiss No. 2 clinched three different Grand Slams. For some, it was enough to reignite the debate and to consider a Big Five group.
But, Wawrinka has been anything but a constant factor, He did win three Majors, but the lack of consistency has been there too. For example, Andy Murray holds 14 Masters 1000 titles out of a total of 20 finals he has played.
On the other side, Stan Wawrinka was indeed an exceptional player in recent years, but he hardly won a sole Masters 1000 out of a total of four finals.
