No doubt there would be many out there who would disagree. There are of course many outstanding candidates. The two biggest hurdles though in examining a question such as this is how do you possibly compare individuals (even if they competed in the same sporting arena) across generations and secondly, across sporting fields? And in truth, there is no viable comparative method that enables one to do so with any sort of validity; it really is a matter of one's own perception of a particular sport as well as cross-generational, sporting prowess, and my perception may be vastly different to the next guy's, and one can really only have an opinion if one has been around long enough to witness sporting achievement across generations and across various sporting arenas. For example, I can't reasonably compare Andy Murray to Fred Perry, except on paper, simply because I didn't see Fred Perry play. But what I can say for sure is that the game Perry played might be, in theory the same game that Murray now plays, but in practice they are vastly different.
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| Andy Murray winning this years Wimbledon Men's Singles |
To be blunt, if not controversial for a second, when Perry played tennis was a game that was played by an elite minority. It certainly wasn't a game that Andy Murray, had he been around in the 1930's, would probably have had a chance to play, let alone play often enough to be able to gain any sort of prowess. He just wouldn't have had access to the courts, the money or the opportunities. So tennis back then was a competition between (for want of a better word) gentlemen and so the level of competition, though undoubtedly high for the time, was limited by comparison. That said, a player in any generation can only beat those against whom he competes and Fred Perry was thus, a great Champion, but that was then and he remains a Champion of the times and his talent, no matter how great, cannot be compared to that of Murray who competes in a world very different from that inhabited by Perry. The levels of competition and professionalism that the best tennis players in the world have to achieve now is immense and literally bears no comparison to generations past, thus for me at least, Murray's achievement's in winning 3 Grand Slams (2 of course at Wimbledon now) in the modern game is a simply mind boggling feat and far superior to that of (with all due respect) Perry, especially given that Murray has been I would suggest, up against (arguably) the greatest players in the world of this or any other generation, namely Roger Federer, Raphael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
It is hard to imagine there will ever be such a generation of greats in tennis or for that matter, any other sport, who will all be around at the same time with such rampant success. At any other time time Murray would surely have won more than 3 Slams had he not had the misfortune (?) to be at the top his game at the same time as perhaps the three greatest players of all time. This as much as anything leads me to say Murray is the greatest British star of all time.
But what of other modern British sports stars, and there are many to choose from across a wide range of sports, all of whom rightly deserve similar accolades for their sporting achievements. Stars such as Steve Redgrave (rowing), Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Vicky Pendleton (cycling), Lester Piggott, Tony McCoy (horse racing), Joe Calzaghe (boxing), Mo Farah, Seb Coe, Paula Radcliffe (athletics), Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton (football), Adam Peaty (swimming), Jackie Stewart, Lewis Hamilton, Barry Sheene (motor sport), Ben Ainslie (sailing) are just some of whom one might consider in competition with Murray and all of whom, for one reason or another, I discounted. Here's why....
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| Mo Farah |
- longevity (level of achievement over time, consistency, competition over time)
- sporting arena (team sport or individual; injury risk)
- place in the British sports fans psyche (i.e. level of attachment or emotion)
In considering sporting longevity (or success over time) one has to adjust ones expectations for particular sports; for example, in swimming for example, competitors usually come to the fore at a relatively young age (i.e. late teens, early 20's) and may have a career that lasts 10 years if they are truly lucky, whereas a jockey may begin at a similar age but can reasonably be expected to continue for double that time, sometimes longer, therefore in terms of sporting longevity expectations needs to be adjusted accordingly.
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| Ben Ainslie |
In examining various sporting arenas and the success of competitors within that sphere one needs to look at different aspects of each sport and thus, each sporting star. For example, in football it is relatively easy to determine who a great player is (and who is not) and to determine their level of success, but since it is a team game can one reasonably say that a great player would have been rated so if the team about him was not also a large part of the equation? By that I mean, Leo Messi is arguably the greatest of all time, but would he have achieved the same levels of recognition and success had he not had an Iniesta, a Javi, a Puyol, etc playing alongside him? So success in a team game is to a (larger) extent dependent upon the other members of the team than in say boxing, or tennis, where performance is purely down to the individual. That is not to say that boxers and tennis players don't have teams because they do, but in the end the performance is down to the individual.
In some sports as well the chances of sustaining an injury (serious, career-ending or otherwise) are (arguably) more likely than in others; a boxer for example, is far more likely to sustain injuries than say an oarsman/woman during competition, and in motor sports those injuries may not just threaten a career but also the competitors life. Would Ayrton Senna have gone on to become the greatest driver of all time had he not lost his life so tragically and so young? But then a racing driver is far less likely to sustain a torn hamstring during training than say an athlete, so risk assessments across sports are very difficult to make and, I would argue, highly subjective.
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| Bradley Wiggins in Tour winners yellow jersey. |
Taking each in turn I shall give the reason why they didn't make my final cut. Steve Redgrave I discounted because his success was to a lesser or greater extent dependent upon his team members without whom he may not have achieved such recognition. Mo Farah, who according to Brendan Foster is the greatest, I discounted because despite all of his success I believe greatness in athletics is largely measured by the number of records he breaks, and rightly or wrongly, Mo has always been a pure racer motivated by medals and not times, and so in my mind has never scaled the heights that he perhaps might have. Ben Ainslie has never gained the place in British hearts that other sports stars may have simply because sailing is not perhaps an ideal spectator sport and so public recognition has passed him by somewhat. And to a lesser extent the same may be true of Bradley Wiggins who (in my reckoning came a very close second to Andy and) has never gained the public recognition I believe he deserves because cycling, as a TV sport is not as viewer friendly as say tennis.
Wiggins is, however, in my opinion the greatest cyclist Britain has produced. The range of his successes is truly staggering reaching across a multitude of track events at both Worlds and Olympics, as well as untold success on the roads culminating in his 2011 success in becoming the first British winner of the Tour de France and all this stretching over an international career that has lasted almost 20 years and is still ongoing.
But in the end he will never gain the same place in British hearts as Andy Murray simply because tennis is a much more approachable and armchair friendly sport than say an individual time trial event!
So by process of elimination I come to the inevitable conclusion that Andy Murray is the greatest sports star that Britain has ever produced.
What do you think? Am I right or wrong?
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