Andy Murray was knighted on Friday as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year’s honors list, earning the recognition for his services to tennis and to charity. The 29-year-old Scot was among several Olympic and Paralympic athletes to be knighted, including Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill. Farah and Ennis-Hill starred in track and field at this summer’s Rio Olympics, while Murray captured the gold medal in men’s singles.
It was Murray’s second consecutive singles gold, having also prevailed at the All-England Club during the 2012 London Olympics. The world No. 1’s accomplishments for Great Britain also include a Davis Cup title in 2015.
Murray had previously received an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) medal from Prince William in October of 2013 after winning Wimbledon for the first time that summer. This year was even better, as Murray won Wimbledon, the Olympics, and seven other titles. He reached No. 1 in the rankings for the first time in his career at the Paris Masters this fall and he finished 2016 in the top spot by triumphing at the World Tour Finals. For the first time in the history of the ATP Tour, a year-end No. 1 ranking all came down to the last match of the season between the top two players. One day after fighting off a match point to outlast Milos Raonic in the semis, Murray defeated Novak Djokovic to lift both the tournament winner’s trophy and the No. 1 trophy.
He became the 17th different man and the first Brit to end a season No. 1. He also earned his third BBC Sports Personality of the Year award this fall.
Murray warmed up for the 2017 campaign at this week’s prestigious six-man tournament in Abu Dhabi, the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. The top seed lost his opening match to David Goffin but bounced back to beat Raonic in straight sets for third place on Saturday afternoon.
“It was good to finish the year with a win,” the three-time major winner said. “It was a good match to work on returns as Milos has a strong serve…. I still feel like Andy Murray–that feels more normal–but it’s a great honor and I am happy with the knighthood and it is a nice way to start the new year.”
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Hail Sir Andy!!Let’s complete the most incredible achievement in your career by winning AO next month…C’MON!LET’S GO!!
Well done Sir Andy Murray accepting England’s honour, in fact even Scotland accepted it. God bless you. Happy New Year