Andy Murray has opened up about his battles against his biggest tennis rivals, revealing that Roger Federer was the opponent he 'didn't mind playing' compared to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The quartet, known as tennis' Big Four, dominated an era that shaped the sport.
While Murray has just three Grand Slam titles to his name, compared with the trio's combined haul of 66, the Scot racked up more victories against the tennis legends than anyone else in history. He discussed his career and, in particular, Federer's impact on him during his formative years on former cricket star Kevin Pietersen's YouTube channel.
When questioned about who he viewed as the leading figure when joining the ATP Tour, Murray said on The Switch: 'I loved watching [Federer]. I had an injury when I was 16 where I couldn't play for like six months and I used to sit and take notes on him and watch a lot of the top players. It helped me because when I then went on the tour, I felt like I'd seen so much of them, I actually had a plan at how I'd go about playing against them.'
Despite his 11-14 record against the Swiss maestro, Murray confessed he favoured clashes against him over his other rivals. He added: 'He was the guy that was comfortably number one in the world at the time. The first time [I played him] was in 2005. I played against him in the final of a tournament in Bangkok, it was my first final on the main tour. I actually played a good match [but] I lost, I played against him 25 times in total. I've got 11 wins against him and I didn't mind playing him as much as some of the others.'
Murray claimed as many victories against Federer as he did against Djokovic, yet suffered defeat 25 times to the Serb across almost 11 years. He overcame Nadal on just seven occasions, with the Spaniard getting the better of him 17 times, yet the 22-time Grand Slam champion reserved the ultimate praise for Murray. Nadal once said: 'In terms of level of tennis, in terms of mentality winning spirit - Andy was the only one at the same level of myself, Roger and Novak.'
The two-time Olympic gold medallist has moved into coaching since retiring in 2024, having worked alongside Djokovic last year before being brought into Jack Draper's camp for the grass-court season. Their collaboration was due to get underway at Queen's last week, but the British star pulled out of the tournament with a knee injury and is now targeting a comeback at Eastbourne ahead of Wimbledon.
