Factbox – Australian Open Andy Murray

Published 01/30/2016, 4:57 AM EST

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MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Factbox on Britain’s Andy Murray, who will contest his fifth Australian Open men’s singles final on Sunday against Novak Djokovic.

Born: Glasgow, Scotland, May 15, 1987

Seed: 2

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GRAND SLAM TITLES (2): U.S. Open 2012, Wimbledon 2013

EARLY LIFE

A survivor of the 1996 Dunblane School massacre

A talented all-round sportsman, turned down a promising career as a soccer player to focus on tennis, leaving his homeland at 15 to train in Barcelona.

TENNIS CAREER

Became the first British player since Greg Rusedski in 1997 to make a grand slam final when he played the 2008 championship decider in New York, losing to Roger Federer in straight sets.

Made the Australian Open final in 2010, losing to Federer, again in straight sets.

In 2011, reached the Australian Open final for the second straight year, but lost to Djokovic, also in straight sets.

In 2012, hired former world number one Ivan Lendl as his coach.

Became the first British man to reach the final at Wimbledon since Bunny Austin in 1938. Lost to Federer.

A few weeks later, he avenged the loss when he won the gold medal at the London Olympics.

Beat Djokovic in an epic five-set U.S. Open final in 2012 to win his first grand slam title, making him the first British man to win a major title since Fred Perry won the U.S. Open in 1936.

Lost his second Melbourne Park final to Djokovic in 2013.

Forced to pull out of the French Open with a back injury. Returned in style at Wimbledon to beat top seed Djokovic 6-4 7-5 6-4 to become first British man to win the Wimbledon singles title since 1936.

Linked with twice grand slam women’s champion Amelie Mauresmo in 2014 after Lendl stood down in March.

Advanced to his fourth Australian Open final in 2015 only to lose to Djokovic in four sets.

Takes 500th tour victory with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 win over South African Kevin Anderson at Miami, becoming the 46th man in the Open Era to reach the mark.

Married long-term girlfriend Kim Sears in April 2015. Their first child is due next month.

Won first titles on clay, at Madrid and Munich.

Made the semi-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, losing to Djokovic and Federer respectively before crashing out to Anderson in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.

Almost single-handedly took Britain to the Davis Cup final for the first time since 1978, then clinched their first title since 1936 with a singles victory against David Goffin.

PATH TO THE FINAL (prefix denotes seeding):

1st round – bt Alexander Zverev (Germany) 6-1 6-2 6-3

2nd round – bt Sam Groth (Australia) 6-0 6-4 6-1

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3rd round – bt 32-Joao Sousa (Portugal) 6-2 3-6 6-2 6-2

4th round – bt 16-Bernard Tomic (Australia) 6-4 6-4 7-6(4)

QF – bt 8-David Ferrer (Spain) 6-4 6-4 7-5

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SF – bt 13-Milos Raonic (Canada) 4-6 7-5 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2

(Compiled by Greg Stutchbury, editing by Nick Mulvenney)

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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