Andy Murray’s 19-year Wimbledon career: Interactive chart reveals British star’s fastest serve, biggest win and longest rally at SW19 tournament – as he retires from professional tennis

Since he first stepped onto the tennis court almost 20 years ago, Andy Murray has wowed Wimbledon crowds with stunning tennis.

But at the age of 37, the temperamental Scot is bidding farewell to SW19 after withdrawing from the men’s singles event at the last minute this year due to injury.

The two-time Wimbledon champion will compete in the Olympic Games in Paris later this summer and will then hang up his tennis racket for good.

With the help of technology partner IBM, MailOnline has now combed through 19 years of data to select the highlights from Murray’s Wimbledon singles career.

From his longest rally to his biggest win and fastest serve, interactive graphics reveal the memorable moments from his time at the world’s biggest tennis tournament.

FIRST MATCH

At the age of 18, Andy Murray – number 312 in the world rankings – was given a wildcard for Wimbledon in 2005.

On Court 2, he recorded a convincing 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Switzerland’s George Bastl on June 21 – both his first Wimbledon victory and his first Grand Slam victory.

After the match the Dunblane lad said: ‘I didn’t actually expect to win – he’s clearly much better than me.’

Murray defeated Czech Radek Stepanek in the second round on Court 1 in three sets.

But he lost in the third set to David Nalbandian in a thrilling five-set match – his first match on Centre Court.

However, British tennis fans were immediately sold and eagerly awaited his return the following year.

FASTEST SERVE

Murray hit his fastest serve at Wimbledon on June 22, 2010 during his first-round match win over Jan Hajek (Czech Republic).

The rocket shot off at a speed of 220 km/h, which is faster than National Rail trains in the UK.

Murray reached the semi-finals that year, but was eliminated by eventual champion Rafael Nadal.

However, Murray’s fastest serve at Wimbledon is far from the fastest serve ever recorded in professional tennis.

That record is held by Australian Sam Groth, who hit an ace at 163.7 mph at the 2012 Busan Open in South Korea.

Meanwhile, the fastest serve at Wimbledon is a record that was only set during this year’s tournament.

In his second round on July 4, American Ben Shelton hit the fastest serve ever, a record: 246 km/h.

BIGGEST VICTORY

Murray’s biggest Wimbledon victory came on June 25, 2014 – a second-round match on Court 1 against world number 92 Blaž Rola (Slovenia).

The Scot – then the reigning champion – lost just two games in the entire match, winning 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in just one hour and 24 minutes.

It was also the shortest Wimbledon singles match he ever played.

After the match, Murray said: ‘You try to finish games as quickly as possible. If you have the momentum and you are playing well, that is what you should try to do.’

But he ultimately lost in the quarter-finals to Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, who himself was defeated by that year’s champion – you guessed it! – Novak Djokovic.

HEAVIEST DEFEAT

Murray missed Wimbledon in 2018 and 2019 due to career-threatening injuries, while the tournament was not held at all in 2020 due to Covid.

But after a four-year absence from SW19, he made his comeback in 2021, starting strongly with first and second round victories.

But in his third-round match against Canadian Denis Shapovalov on July 2 of that year, he suffered his heaviest defeat at Wimbledon.

The 22-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov defeated the 34-year-old Murray 4-6, 2-6, 2-6 – a match that lasted two hours and 16 minutes.

Murray said afterwards: ‘I’m going to put so much effort into it, I want to perform better than I did here, even though there were some really great moments.’

LONGEST RALLY

Murray’s longest rally at Wimbledon came during his championship match against Djokovic on July 7, 2013.

In the second point of the second game of the second set they hit the net 32 ​​times.

Murray lost the point, but eventually won the match in three sets – a kind of redemption after losing to Roger Federer in the final the year before.

Again, 32 strokes is far from the longest rally in professional tennis – far from it.

During a tournament in Richmond, Virginia in October 1984, Jean Hepner and Vicky Nelson passed the ball over the net 643 times – a rally that lasted a whopping 29 minutes.

LONGEST MATCH

On July 6 last year, two days after Murray defeated fellow Scot Ryan Peniston, the Scot took on Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.

It was not only his last, but also his longest Wimbledon singles match.

At 22:38, play was controversially halted after three sets due to Wimbledon’s curfew. The match resumed the following day.

Tsitsipas eventually defeated Murray 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted a whopping four hours and 40 minutes.

Murray told the press afterwards: ‘I’m obviously very disappointed… you never know how many chances you’re going to get to play here.’

In 2010, Wimbledon was the scene of the longest tennis match in history: 11 hours and 5 minutes, spread over three days between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut.

In total, Murray played 74 singles matches at Wimbledon – 66 on Centre Court, seven on Court 1 and one on Court 2.

At the age of 37, he wanted to compete in Wimbledon 2024, but he withdrew at the last minute because he had not recovered sufficiently from back surgery.

He played in the men’s doubles alongside his brother Jamie, receiving a standing ovation from the Wimbledon crowd, who gave him a fond farewell on Centre Court before he retired this summer.

Murray was due to play in the mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu, but the 21-year-old dramatically withdrew to avoid getting into shape for her singles match, leaving Andy ‘devastated’.

But ultimately, nothing can stand in the way of Andy Murray’s remarkable career, which includes two Wimbledon titles, a US Open title and two Olympic gold medals.