After bitter losses in his first four Grand Slam finals, Murray ingeniously teamed with fellow 0-4 loser Ivan Lendl for his breakthrough at the 2012 US Open, toppling Djokovic in a marathon final to end Perry’s 76-year reign as Britain’s last male major winner.

It was more than his success-starved country dreamed when Murray made his Wimbledon 2005 debut, a wild-haired, intense stripling fighting out of his weight division to reach the third round, and already attracting the likes of Sean Connery and Alex Ferguson to his matches. (Alas not Perry, who died in the 1990s, and would have loved the fiery young Scot.)

Even Murray’s losing efforts had a heroic quality, nowhere more than in Australia. The only player to come away empty-handed from five Australian Open finals (one against Federer and four versus Djokovic), he also lost a gruelling four-hour, 50-minute semifinal to the Serb in 2012.

At Melbourne Park in 2019, Murray tearfully all-but announced the end of his playing career as he faced a hip replacement to end his daily pain and ensure quality of life. He lost to Roberto Bautista-Agut in five defiant sets, his agonised cries an audible reminder he was fighting for his tennis life.

The touching on-court farewell, with effusive tributes from fellow players, was a gift of sorts, allowing Murray to leave the game in peace, in no doubt of the respect and affection in which he was held.

But it wasn’t the end.

Doubles No.1 Bob Bryan reached out and convinced Murray to undergo hip-resurfacing, rather than replacement, which the American had undergone and successfully returned to the game, albeit in doubles.

An unlikely return

Nobody expected to see Murray back on court just four months after his hip-resurfacing surgery, winning his first event, the Queen’s doubles, with Feliciano Lopez in June. By October he had his first singles title since early 2017 – the European Open in Antwerp, over fellow rehabber Stan Wawrinka. A string of top-10 wins saw him return to the top 50 in 2022.

Then there was his magnificent campaign at Australian Open 2023.

Murray saved a match point to stun 13th seed Matteo Berrettini – his first victory over a top-20 opponent at a major in almost six years – and then recovered from the most precarious of positions to overcome Thanasi Kokkinakis in a match finishing in the early hours of the following morning and a result which saw the record books re-written.

He soldiered on for another 18 months, but wins became fewer and further between as his embattled body became harder to manage.