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Tennis: Sky Sports review British No 1 Andy Murray's season on and off the court

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Andy Murray summed up his season when he signed a camera lens with a message that said "Bad Year!" after reaching the Paris Masters quarter-finals which assured his place at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals.

The British No 1 still managed to reach three grand slam quarter-finals, a French Open semi-final as well as secure three ATP titles in what was perceived by many to be his worst campaign in years.

That kind of success would be classed as a very good year for any other highly-paid professional tennis player, but of course Murray is a two-time major champion and is used to playing on the big occasions and in the big finals.

He finished the year with a 59-20 win-loss record helped by a 12-match winning streak late on in the season and compared to his previous years, 2013 (43-8) and 2012 (56-16) statistically he actually won more matches.

But of course in those previous two years he also won the big titles with an Olympic gold medal followed by his success at the US Open and then Wimbledon the following summer.

Roger Federer (73-12) and Novak Djokovic (61-8) were more successful in terms of match wins in 2014 but you have to take into account Murray's back problems, the resignation of his coach Ivan Lendl and a new approach to his game with the appointment of Amelie Mauresmo.

Things may have turned out very differently for the Scot had he not had such an eventful season off the court ...

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Back surgery

It all began at the back end of last season when the world No 3 at the time underwent surgery in an attempt to resolve a disc problem in his lower back.

After a successful operation Murray hoped to come back even stronger and after three months off the court he returned to action in an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi on Boxing Day having spent the last month stepping up his rehabilitation work at a training camp in Miami.

Murray spent Christmas Day practising with his long-term friend and rival, Djokovic.

"Everyone is looking for matches at the beginning of the year," Murray said. "Before grand slams if you can make it as close as you can to what the top players like to play in, you are going to get strong fields. It's just good preparation.

"I want to try and win as much as I can," he said. "I lost enough times in big matches to not want to do that. I don't want to lose four slam finals in a row again. That was horrible.

"But I also know how hard it is to win those tournaments. It may never happen again, I might not win another one, but I just want to give myself the best chance to do that."

He made his first competitive appearance at the Qatar Open where he crushed the world No 2129, Qatar's Mousa Zayed, 6-0 6-0 before letting a lead slip to lose in three sets to Germany's Florian Mayer in the second round.

Australian Open

Roger Federer (R) embraces as he celebrates after victory in his men's singles match against Andy Murray (L) at the 2014 Australian Open

Next up was the first big major of the year, the Australian Open and Murray opened up in confident fashion securing easy wins over Go Soeda, Vincent Millot, Feliciano Lopez and then coming through in four against Stephane Robert to reach the quarter-finals.

There he came up against Federer and it was the Swiss master who rolled back the years at the ripe old age of 32 to beat a gutsy Murray 6-3 6-4 6-7 6-3.

The Briton remained far short of major-winning form and alluded to his tough comeback from surgery following defeat.

"I've come a long way in four months. I thought I did a good job in getting myself competitive at this level and I wasn't far away. I was able to push hard for three-and-a-half hours in a very high-quality, high-intensity match.

"I don't know how many players have come back from surgery and won their first grand slam back in their second tournament, it's very unlikely to happen. I need to look at this as a stepping stone to get better and hopefully I'll be back playing my best tennis soon."

San Diego triumph

Andy Murray and Great Britain Team celebrate Davis Cup win against USA in San Diego 2014

A fortnight later Murray defeated Sam Querrey of the United States to send Great Britain through to the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup for the first time in 28 years.

The Wimbledon champion used his success on the clay-court in San Diego as build-up to the European season. He said: "It's good for me to play on the clay. Often going into the clay season I haven't played any matches on it for 11 months."

History was against Leon Smith's side going into the tie, with Britain's last victory over the US back in the days of Fred Perry in 1935, while their only previous win on American soil came 111 years ago, but Murray's 17th successive Davis Cup singles win secured an eighth win from nine matches for the skipper.

Murray's high was quickly brought quickly back down to earth by Marin Cilic in the last eight of the Rotterdam Open and he then suffered an agonising semi-final defeat to Bulgarian heart-throb Grigor Dimitrov in a nail-biting epic in the small hours of the Mexican morning in Acapulco.

Lendl split

Britain's Andy Murray (R) is watched by coach Ivan Lendl during a practice session ahead of the 2014 Australian Open

Next up was back-to-back Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami where Murray had done so well in the past, but all the talk was about his sudden and unexpected split from coach Ivan Lendl after one of the most successful coaching partnerships in tennis.

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Highlights of Murray's 7-5 6-3 loss to Djokovic at the Miami Masters

"Having helped [Murray] achieve his goal of winning major titles, I feel like it is time for me to concentrate on some of my own projects," Lendl said in a mutually agreed statement, "including playing more events around the world which I am really enjoying."

The Czech helped Murray to his debut slam win at the US Open in 2012 and also inspired his Wimbledon triumph the following year.

Assisted by coach Dani Vallverdu, his old friend from their teenage days at the Sanchez-Casal Academy, Murray exited the mega-rich California tournament in Indian Wells to hard-hitting Milos Raonic before suffering a quarter-final loss in Florida to Novak Djokovic the following week.

Crunch time in Naples

Andy Murray was beaten by  Fabio Fognini (r) when they last met during a Davis Cup  tie in Naples in April

Tournament play seemed to help Murray's confidence on court and he took that into Great Britain's crunch Davis Cup tie with Italy in Naples.

Although he rolled over Andreas Seppi in his opening rubber he went down to an inspired Fabio Fognini on the crucial final day as the hosts ran out winners.

GB were hoping to reach their first semi-final since 1981 but Murray suffered his first singles defeat in the competition since losing to Stan Wawrinka in 2005.

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Highlights of Murray's Rome Masters defeat to Nadal

Following his loss Murray failed to refuse to blame his heavy schedule, saying: "I was tired when I got up, but I felt okay once I got out there. I did okay physically in the match. I've definitely felt worse in matches on clay."

Defeat to Santiago Giraldo at the Madrid Masters was followed by one of the Scot's best ever performances on the red dirt - for a short time at least - as he tested the greatest clay-court player in history in the quarter-final of the Rome Masters.

For 37 minutes Murray completely dominated Rafael Nadal to win the opening set 6-1, but that was as good as it got for him after which he was seduced by the beefcake Spaniard's biceps to lose in three.

French Open

Murray seemed to be recovering his Wimbledon form and he approached the French Open with real expectation of a strong campaign despite still not having beaten a top 10 player since the final at the All England Club.

At Roland Garros, Murray overcame Philipp Kohlschreiber in a marathon match that lasted two days and although he reached his second semi-final in Paris, the 'King of Clay' Nadal was waiting to hand out a punishing 6-3 6-2 6-1 win, inflicting on Murray the heaviest defeat of his grand slam career.

"That’s the toughest match I have played against him," a subdued Murray said afterwards. "He was hitting extremely hard, extremely heavy, returning well, and was hitting it well on the run."

The Dunblane dynamo needed to put the disappointment behind him as quickly as possible with the Aegon Championships starting at Queen's Club and Wimbledon following a fortnight later

"I think going onto the grass will help me in some ways," he said. "I have a lot of good memories from the grass court season over the last couple of years."

Mauresmo and Wimbledon

Andy Murray and Amelie Mauresmo. Aegon Championships, Queen's Club. June 12 2014.

Then, in a dramatic and unexpected move Murray surprised the tennis world by appointing former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach, hired to bring his creative style back to the fore.

"I have a very strong coaching team already in place, but I think Amelie brings with her experience and tactical expertise and will push us all to improve," Murray said. "Everyone I know talks very highly of Amelie, as a person and coach, and I'm convinced that her joining the team will help us push on - I want to win more grand slams."

Britain's Andy Murray sits down after losing his men's singles quarter-final match against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov on day nine of the 2014 Wimbledon Cha

The new partnership didn't get off to the greatest of starts though as firstly Murray suffered a surprise exit to wily old veteran Radek Stepanek at Queen's Club and his Wimbledon title defence was ended in a whimper by Dimitrov with alarming ease in the last eight following a rather limp performance.

The 6-1 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 defeat meant that the Scot slipped to 10th in the world ranking for the first time in six years.

His new coach Mauresmo looked as bemused as everyone on Centre Court as Murray trudged off a shadow of the player that beat Djokovic in the final a year ago.

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Highlights of Murray's 6-3 7-5 loss to Federer at the Cincinnati Masters

Murray swiftly returned to training where Mauresmo spent weeks at his recent post-Wimbledon camp in Miami, and he returned to action at the Canadian Open in Toronto only to lose to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three.

Next stop was Cincinnati, but the Scot was unable to make progress past the quarter-final stage once again, with Roger Federer winning six of the final seven games to seal an impressive 6-3 7-5 victory and even up their head-to-head record at 11 wins apiece.

US Open

Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts to a point against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their US Open 2014 men's quarterfinals match.

Murray arrived in New York declaring himself in the best shape since last year's Wimbledon following a solid training block.

But at the final major of the year the British No 1 looked to be heading for his first opening-round defeat at a grand slam tournament in more than six years as he struggled with bouts of cramp and looked barely capable of moving at times against Dutchman Robin Haase in the opening round.

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Highlights of Murray’s first round win against Haase

However, he showed plenty of spirit and determination to dig deep and come through a titanic battle in four sets on Louis Armstrong Court.

The two-time grand slam champion appeared far happier on Arthur Ashe Stadium and won through his next couple of matches, including his first win over a top-10 player for 14 months after his Wimbledon title, with victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

That sent him through to a quarter-final showdown with old foe Djokovic in a repeat of their epic 2012 final at the quarter-final stage. He had now reach the last eight or better of his last 15 Grand Slam tournaments.

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Highlights of Murray's quarter final defeat against Djokovic

In a match lasting three hours and 31 minutes, Murray was hitting his forehands harder than he had ever done before in his career and pushed the Serb to the brink before his fitness faded late in the match, eventually losing 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (1-7) 6-2 6-4.

The 27-year-old said afterwards: "He was definitely physically fresher, the pace of my serve slowed down towards the end. My back towards the end stiffened up, it is physically extremely demanding to play him. I tried to hang in at the end but was a little bit disappointed how my body reacted, I have trained hard."

Although physical tiredness caught up with Murray that night, what mattered most was gaining enough points in the Race To London with the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals just around the corner.

As Murray began his three weeks in Asia he appeared to show his support for Scottish independence with a tweet to his followers which received mixed reactions.

He later declared he has no regrets about declaring his support for a Yes vote on the eve of the referendum but did have reservations about the way he did it.

Independence was ultimately rejected by a margin of 55 per cent to 45 per cent.

Shenzhen title

Andy Murray of Britain lifts his trophy after winning at the inaugural ATP Shenzhen Open

With 250 points on offer in Shenzhen, Murray knew he needed to start winning tournaments and he took the offer of a Wild Card at the tournament in China where he won his first title for 14 month after a gruelling final against Tommy Robredo.

The Olympic gold medallist saved five match points in securing his 29th career title which put him in good heart for the rest of the season, 5-7 7-6 (11-9) 6-1. "Obviously, it's been a long, long time since I've won a tournament and the way that the final was won, too, doesn't happen very often," he said.

"I'm glad I managed to fight my way through it and win the title and hope I can try to win another one before the end of the year."

Victory in Shenzhen took Murray up one place to No 10 in the Race for London with eight spots filling the field for the O2 showpiece.

At the China Open Murray rallied to the semi-finals where he came up against Djokovic, who was looking every inch a champion on the Asia swing, and it was the Serb who won through to the final, but the Briton had picked up more vital points in making the last four.

Vienna victory

Andy Murray of Britain holds the trophy after winning the final match  against David Ferrer of Spain at the Erste Bank Open tennis tournament in Vienna

At the Shanghai Masters Murray suffered a major blow against one of his closes rivals to reach London. David Ferrer defeated him in the last 16, but they met again, this time in the Vienna final a week later and he fought back from a set down to beat the Spaniard to move up to eighth in world.

It was also another crucial 250 points, with just two ranking events left before next month's finals.

When Rafael Nadal announced that he required surgery due to long-standing appendicitis, that somewhat eased the strain on Murray although he wasn't safe with the likes of Ferrer, Dimitrov and Milos Raonic still breathing down his neck.

Valencia Open

Next up for Murray was the Valencia Open and another meeting with the popular Robredo in the final and once again he was made to dig deep, again saving five match points and fighting back to win 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (10-8) in arguably the match of the year after three hours and 20 minutes in the longest final of the year on the ATP World Tour.

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Highlights of Murray's epic win over Robredo in the Valencia Open final

"I know it was an incredible match," said Murray, who was playing his 20th match in five weeks. "The tennis at the end and in the second set was high level. I played well at the right moments. I don't know how I managed to come through it – I was very tired, Tommy was very tired as well."

"It was an amazing match, and you have to enjoy it,” Robredo said. "Unfortunately someone has to win and it was decided by a few balls," added the 32-year-old. "I guess that when I finish the season next week and I watch today's match against one of the best players we have right now, I will be very happy."

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Murray gives his reaction after sealing his place at the ATP World Finals in London

Murray's 11-match winning run came to an end with defeat by Djokovic in the Paris Masters quarter-finals, but by reaching that stage he had done enough to qualify for the Tour Finals.

He had played 23 matches over the past six weeks, winning three titles, but fatigue finally took its toll and needed a week off to prepare for the end-of-season tournament on the banks of the River Thames.

London and preparations

Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Marin Cilic

Expectations were high heading into his opening round-robin clash against US Open finalist Kei Nishikori, but the Japanese trailblazer muted the atmosphere to win comfortably.

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Highlights of Murray's emphatic defeat to Federer at the O2

Murray responded with victory over Raonic in the next match and with straight sets victory needed against a Roger Federer, his troubled season came crashing down after a resounding 6-0 6-1 56-minute destruction at the hands of a majestic Federer.

It was the Briton's heaviest defeat in seven years, but at least he managed to win his final service game to avoid the dreaded 'double bagel'.

Murray's preparations for 2015 have already started with the remaining part of his team that turned him into a grand slam winner, fitness trainer Jez Green and close friend and assistant coach Dani Vallverdu being shown the door, and further validating his faith in coach Mauresmo.

Murray said: "We sat down at the end of the season and decided that a change would be best for all of us.

Andy Murray leaves the court after defeat in the round robin singles match against Roger Federer

"My off season training and Australian Open preparations have already begun and I am very excited for the New Year."

He completed a busy day by getting engaged to girlfriend Kim Sears after nine years together. She was once described by Murray’s mother Judy as "the best thing to happen to Andy".

Murray flew to Manila to play in the inaugural International Premier Tennis League and he will spend a few days at home over Christmas before beginning his 2015 season at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi on January 1.

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