Why Andy Murray is a worthy winner of SPOTY

 

History will not be kind on several of 2016s most successful people but Andy Murray should not be amongst them.

Despite being voted Britain’s best ever sportsman in a recent poll, he is far from universally popular in this country. A search of twitter during BBC Sports Personality of the Year confirmed that many people seemed to be furious at his win, the third of his career.

For those complaining, a common theme was that Murray was illegible for the award because he didn’t have any personality. Firstly, a personality in this case just means a famous person and you cannot argue that Murray is one of those.

As for Murray’s lack of personality, I think those on twitter have bought into a myth. He displays a huge amount of passion out on court, chuntering to himself when things aren’t going his way before nearly always getting the better of his opponent and engaging in gut-busting roars or even, occasionally, tears.

His appearances on Mock the Week in the last few years have shown his sense of humour and self-deprecation and he showed he has no problem pushing new boundaries when he became the first high profile player to hire a female coach, Amelie Mauresmo, in 2014.

One person even suggested that if the award was based on personality (which again, it isn’t) then it should have gone to Tyson Fury. If Tyson Fury is what it means to have personality, then it is probably best that Murray apparently does not have any.

The saddest thing about this is it detracts from Murray’s incredible sporting achievements. It has been a near perfect year for him, having won his second Wimbledon title and his second Olympic gold medal.

Those are the headline achievements but the 24 consecutive wins in the second half of the year that culminated in him defeating Novak Djokovic at the ATP world tour finals is arguably an even greater feat. It’s fine beating Djokovic in the odd tournament but to climb past him to number one in the rankings through a display of remarkable consistency is why Murray is a worthy winner of the award.

What sets Murray apart from some of the other nominees is that he’s risen to the top of his sport when competition has never been tougher. He’s got the better of one of the best players of all time over the course of a year, to discount that because he sounds a hit dour shows the kind of childish petulance you might associate with fellow tennis player Nick Kyrgios.

Murray’s never lost to Kyrgios, incidentally.