At the age of 29 Andy Murray has become one of the youngest people in living memory to be knighted in the annual New Year’s Honours list.
The prestigious honour has been awarded to the Brit following his triumphant season, where he became the first British man to rise to world number one in the ATP Emirates rankings. Achieving a personal best win-loss of 78-9 in 2016, Murray close his season out by winning five consecutive tournaments. He completed his 25-match winning streak with a straight-set win over Novak Djokovic in the final of the ATP Tour finals. Prior to Murray’s late surge, he also became the first man in history to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the singles and clinched his third grand slam title at Wimbledon.
Sir Andy Murray. 👌👀🙌
Here’s a reminder of how the soon-to-be-knighted Scot clinched the year-end ATP No.1️⃣ ranking back in November! pic.twitter.com/AeOg1uflnJ
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 30 December 2016
Murray, who was given an OBE in 2012 after winning the US Open, was awarded the knighthood for his services to both tennis and charity. This year Murray became an ambassador for Unicef UK. Earlier this year he hosted a charity night at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow to raise money for both Unicef and local charity Young People’s Futures’. The event raised over £305,000.
Shortly after winning the year-end title in London, a grounded Murray previously said that ‘he was too’ young to be called a sir as speculation of a knighthood mounted. Now the speculation has turned into a reality, it is unlikely that the Wimbledon champion will demand to be addressed by his new title on the tour.
“Obviously it is the highest honour you can get in this country,” he recently told a group of British reporters. “I don’t know, I feel too young for something like that.
“I don’t think about that stuff much, really. When I win any award or am presented with anything, it is nice because it is recognition for what you have given your life to, up to now anyway.
“I am still young and there are still a lot of things that can go wrong, I could still mess up and make mistakes. Do stuff wrong. I am just trying to keep doing what I am doing, working hard, and achieving stuff.”
The milestone comes only hours after the Brit suffered a shock defeat at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, where he was knocked out in straight sets by world No.11 David Goffin.
Andy Murray’s 2016 performance
Australian Open – runner-up
Indian Wells – R3
Miami – R3
Monte Carlo – SF
Madrid – runner-up
Rome – champion
French Open – runner-up
Queen’s – champion
Wimbledon – champion
Rio Olympic Games – champion
Cincinnati – runner-up
US Open – quarter-finals
Beijing – champion
Shanghai – champion
Vienna – champion
Paris – champion
ATP Finals – champion
