Andy Murray: The King of Scots?

THE world's top athletes tend not to put their achievements in historical perspective, preferring to concentrate only on the here and now, but if Andy Murray can somehow make off with the Wimbledon singles title on Sunday afternoon, there will be no shortage of others offering to do it for him. Should he become the first British man to win it since Fred Perry in 1936, the young Scot's achievement will be measured against the greatest in sporting history.

They are at it already south of the Border where 73 years of hurt far outweigh the 43 since England's football team won the World Cup. Murray has the small matter of a semi-final to negotiate this afternoon – when he will face America's Andy Roddick – and a final likely to be against Roger Federer, arguably the best player ever to have graced a tennis court, but it hasn't stopped the more excitable fans of SW19 predicting that this weekend will see the biggest story in the history of British sport unfold.

All of which makes it easily the biggest Scotland has ever known, right? Well, possibly. It brings to mind the day John Lennon was asked if Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world, to which he replied that he wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles. If Murray wins on Sunday – and it's a big if – more than a few illustrious names will be refusing to make way for him in Scotland's sporting pantheon. Jackie Stewart, for instance, can argue that he won three Formula One world titles. Cyclist Chris Hoy won three Olympic gold medals only last year. Add to that the boxing achievements of Ken Buchanan and Jim Watt, or the work of Kenny Dalglish and Denis Law, in football – the national sport don't forget – and Murray finds himself in the company of legends who transcend the border of their homeland.

It's a subjective, some would say impossible, business, comparing the merits of athletes from different sports in different eras.

Some of those who devote their life to a so-called minority pursuit, without adequate funding or recognition until the Olympics come along, can claim to be the best in their business, but they have emerged from a relatively small pool of talent. And there are those who would argue some of Scotland's biggest achievements have been by players who weren't really sportsmen. Critics who like their games to involve blood, sweat and tears are wont to exclude snooker's Stephen Hendry and even golf's Sandy Lyle from the equation.

Of course, there are managers such as Jock Stein, and teams like the Lisbon Lions, who won the 1967 European Cup for Celtic, but neither capture the essence of sport in its classical sense, one man's battle with another, or indeed with nature. While the great teams have no room for passengers, you have to wonder if each and every player takes the same responsibility as Murray did earlier this week in his exhausting, thrilling five-set defeat of Stansilas Wawrinka. For the 22-year-old warrior, there was no hiding place, no-one else to bale him out. Were he to do the same in Sunday's final, the superlatives would run dry. It would be a monumental landmark for British tennis, and more so for its Scottish equivalent. While it is more than seven decades since Perry clinched a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles, no Scot has come close to even one. The only other tennis player in the Scottish sports hall of fame is Winnie Shaw, who reached the quarter-finals of the women's singles in 1970 and 1971, as well as the doubles semi-final of 1972, when she was partnered by another Scot, Joyce Williams.

It should be remembered that Murray has come this far in the absence of Rafael Nadal, the world No 1 who withdrew injured from the tournament before it had even started. No-one will care much about that in the immediate aftermath of a victory on Sunday, but when the dust has settled, rest assured that the next question will be this: was it devalued by the omission of the young Spaniard from his list of victims? When the golfer, Tiger Woods, missed most of last season with a knee injury, those who stepped up to the plate were repeatedly asked if the history books should record their triumph with an asterisk alongside.

Murray, though, would deserve better. Of all the reasons to look upon a Wimbledon win as among the most remarkable achievements by any Scottish athlete is the social dimension that would accompany it. Scotland is not a tennis nation, and never has been, not like France, where the weather permits year-round play, or Australia, where they they treat it as a potential career rather than a gentle way to spend their Sunday morning. That Murray is already world No 3 is remarkable in itself. If he can take it a step further, he will inspire a generation of young, maybe working-class, Scots hitherto excluded from a sport regarded as the preserve of the elite.

He may have sharpened up his image lately, but he is still perceived to have attitude, anger and not much time for the establishment. And, though he served his tennis apprenticeship at an academy in Barcelona, he was born and brought up in Dunblane, and is not some distant, multi-millionaire icon in the David Beckham mould. Young Scots can identify with him far more than they did Tim Henman. So, too, can their counterparts in England. While they loved young Timmy, and were slow to warm to his successor, they know now that he is a serious player, a guy who will not settle for second best.

There is, in fact, a parallel with Perry, who was something of an outsider himself. The son of a cotton-mill worker in Stockport, the player who would have been 100 this summer had guts, character and a mind of his own. In Jon Henderson's biography, The Last Champion, the late BBC commentator Dan Maskell said: "From the first, I could see that he was very single minded … he was a stubborn and sometimes truculent character who believed totally in his own ability." Murray has the same qualities, which is just as well, for they are needed by a home hope at Wimbledon more than any athlete anywhere in the world.

Maybe the biggest achievement would not be in lifting the trophy, but in handling the misplaced expectation that comes every year. It has grown with every passing summer since 1936, and spiralled out of control with the attention of the media age, despite the lessons of history, and the fact that most of those who watch Wimbledon could not care two hoots for tennis during the other 50 weeks of the year. The BBC pundit, John McEnroe, who won seven grand slam singles titles, was asked the other day whether he had ever encountered the pressure Murray is under this week. "Never," he replied, which speaks volumes for the phenomenon that is Wimbledon, and the baggage that comes with it. It doesn't help Murray in the slightest, but it won't stop us burdening him with it these next two or three days.


SCOTLAND'S HALL OF FAME

Jim Clark

THE Borders farmer was twice world champion in Formula 1, and at the time of his death he had won more Grand Prix races (25) than anyone other driver.

Jackie Stewart

THREE-TIME world champion in Formula 1, winning the title in 1969, 1971 and 1973. Recorded 27 wins in a career of 99 races.

Kenny Dalglish

SCOTLAND'S most capped footballer played in two World Cups and won three European Cups.

Jock Stein

CELTIC became the first British side to win the European Cup under the guidance of manager Stein.

Denis Law

THE Scotland internationalist remains his country's only footballer to be named European player of the year, in 1964.

Alex Ferguson

THE Manchester United manager is arguably the most successful British football manager of all time. Twice a Champions League winner.

Colin McRae

DRIVER McRae became the first British winner of the World Rally Championship, as well as the youngest winner, when he lifted the title in 1995.

Stephen Hendry

AT 21 he became the youngest ever snooker world champion in 1990, and has now won the title seven times – a record in the modern era.

Liz McColgan

THE long distance runner won gold in the 10,000m at the 1991 World Championships.

Eric Liddell

SCOTLAND rugby player turned sprinter won gold in the 400m at the 1924 Olympics in a world record time.

Chris Hoy

SCOTLAND'S most successful Olympian, the first Briton to win three golds at a Games since 1908, and the most successful Olympic male cyclist ever.

David Wilkie

AT the 1976 Olympic Games, Wilkie won gold in the 200m breaststroke in a world record time.

Ken Buchanan

THE Edinburgh fighter was WBA and WBC world lightweight boxing champion in the early 1970s.

Jim Watt

WATT was world lightweight boxing champion (WBC) from 1979 to 1981, making four successful defences of his title. He recorded 38 wins in a career of 46 fights.

Sandy Lyle

IN 1985 Lyle became the first British winner of the Open since 1969, and in 1988 he was Britain's first Masters winner.

Allan Wells

THE 100m winner at the 1980 Olympics was the first Scottish track triumph since Eric Liddell in 1924. The Americans boycotted the event, but Wells beat them all after the Games.