Murray Wins BBC Sports Personality Award

Written by: on 16th December 2013
Wimbledon Championships
Murray Wins BBC Sports Personality Award

epa03779638 Andy Murray of Britain returns to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the men's final for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 07 July 2013. EPA/KERIM OKTEN  |

Fears that Andy Murray, Britain’s first Wimbledon male singles champion for 77 years, might have blown his opportunity of winning the nation’s most prestigious sports award by staying in Miami to continue his rehabilitation after back surgery were dispelled as he was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year with a record proportion of the ballot.

 

Murray’s public image in Britain, and particularly England, has long been a drawback and regardless of his momentous triumph at the All England Club in July, and an Olympic gold medal 11 months previously, the Scot’s dour and often less than gracious persona means he has hardly been festooned by lucrative commercial opportunities.

 

However of the 717,454 votes cast, a massive 56% were for Murray. Votes were cast purely on the night of the award by text or email in a one hour window when news had long since spread that the 26 year-old, third placed in 2012, was not going to be at the Leeds-staged ceremony in person.

 

His tally of 401,470 votes was more than six times the number cast for second place British Lions rugby player Leigh Halfpenny, and more than seven times those for A. P. McCoy, the 2010 winner, who finished third.

 

After receiving the award from Martina Navratilova , standing beside a Miami poolside, he explained his reasoning on staying at his training base. “I spent a lot of time discussing it with my team, talking to my physio and doctors about it,” he said.

 

“The easy decision would have been to come, I’d have loved it and had a great time, but it was the right decision for my career, my back and my preparations for the Australian Open.”

 

Murray’s divorced parents, Judy and Will, were both at the ceremony along with his maternal grandparents. Judy had to step in for an unrehearsed chat when Andy’s timekeeping went astray and he was reported to be still in the shower when the allotted time spot for a satellite relayed conversation with host Gary Lineker.

 

When Murray finally got on screen, he showed he could poke fun at himself and his ‘half asleep dull’ voice which has won him so many impersonators over the years. “No matter how excited I try to sound, my voice still sounds incredibly boring,” he said. “That’s just my voice, I’m sorry about that.”

 

He went on to add: “I know I’ve not always been the easiest person to support but I’ve been under a lot of pressure for a long time so I’m just really pleased to break through. I maybe let people down over the years but they stuck by me. I’ll try to repay their faith.”

 

Once the award was announced Murray’s clothing and shoe suppliers adidas soon took the opportunity to poke fun at the claims with an advert posted on Twitter and running in today’s London evening newspaper featuring a pic from Murray’s historic win. It read: “Not bad for a man with no personality” and “Congratualtions@andy.murray! #allinformurray.”

 

By breakfast time in Britain, words had been retweeted more than 12,000 times including one from Murray himself.

 

Meanwhile Murray had good news for his fans who are hoping for a successful return to action in the upcoming new season. “The back is getting much better,” he told BBC Sport.

 

“It’s hard to know how it will respond in a match but the signs have been good and the 10 to 15 days I put in before a match will be key as I’ll be testing my body in lots of practice matches.

“As an athlete you’re used to throwing your body around and doing physical training, but when you have surgery you need to take a step back and the whole process is tedious and long, but I’m close to coming out the other side of it.”

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