I had the idea for this post last summer, but I never got around to writing it. Amazingly it’s still true. Almost 5 years ago Andy Murray lost to Roger Federer in the 2008 U.S. Open finals, and afterwards he took over the #4 ranking in the world. Murray’s been the 4th best tennis player on the planet ever since. The trouble is, the top 3 guys always win. Since the spring of 2005, Federer (13), Rafael Nadal (11), and Novak Djokovic (5) have won 29 of the last 30 Grand Slam tournaments (the only blip was when Federer lost the ’09 U.S. Open Final to Juan Martin del Potro in 5 sets).
Last weekend Murray lost in the finals at Wimbledon, again to Roger Federer. It was his fourth Grand Slam final, and the 3rd he’s lost to Federer. He lost the other to Djokovic. Murray has also made 6 Grand Slam semi-finals, losing four times to Nadal, once to Djokovic, and once to Andy Roddick. On the plus side for Murray, even though being #4 has never quite been good enough for him to win a major championship, he could probably stand in for this actor any time he wants.
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