Background and career
James Robert Murray (born 13 February 1986) is a British former professional tennis player. A doubles specialist, he is a seven-time major doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup winner, and a former doubles world No. 1. He is the older brother of former singles world No. 1, Andy Murray. Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac, winning three titles in 2007. His following seven ATP finals came with six different partners. In 2013, he began a new partnership with John Peers, winning six ATP tournaments, and reaching two Grand Slam finals. After this partnership ended, Murray played alongside Bruno Soares from 2016, with the new pair enjoying almost immediate success after winning only their second ATP tournament together. They went on to win the 2016 Australian Open and US Open, and Murray became world No. 1 in April that year, spending nine weeks at the top of the rankings. He and Soares split in 2019, with Murray competing alongside compatriot Neal Skupski until the end of 2020, winning one ATP title together. He then reunited with Soares, with the pair finishing runners-up at the 2021 US Open.Murray was part of the Great Britain team that won the 2015 Davis Cup, the nation's first victory in the tournament for 79 years. He and his brother recorded crucial doubles victories in Britain's quarterfinal, semifinal and final wins. The Davis Cup team was awarded the 2015 BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award. Murray has also competed at the Summer Olympics on four occasions. Brad Gilbert, who coached Andy Murray, nicknamed Jamie 'Stretch' because of his 6-foot-3-inch height and long arms.
Jamie Murray was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the elder son of Judith (née Erskine) and William Murray. He grew up in Dunblane and attended Dunblane Primary School. Jamie is the elder brother of fellow tennis player and former singles world No. 1, Andy Murray. He and his brother were present during the 1996 Dunblane school massacre, when Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and a teacher before shooting himself. Both brothers were part of a group of pupils who took cover in a classroom. His parents separated in 1998, with the boys living with their father while being mentored in tennis by their mother. At the age of 10, Jamie was No 3-ranked tennis player of his age in Europe. At 11 years and 5 months, he finished runner-up in the boys under 12 category at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl. Murray was the junior world number 2 when he was 13 years old and was selected to be educated at The Leys School in Cambridge with four other boys whilst being trained by national coaches. But being the youngest meant that instead of Leys, he went to St Faith's School down the road, which was a feeder school. He was isolated from the other players and the coaching wasn't to his liking, so after eight months he returned home. He has not criticised the coach in charge, and stated that blaming the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) would be an easy option. Back home, he did not touch a tennis racquet for two years. In 2004, he partnered his brother to the semifinal of the Junior US Open. Jamie and Andy call each other 'Tight' as a nickname. Murray said that André Sá is probably his best friend on the tour. Murray supports Hibernian F.C. and Manchester United F.C. His maternal grandfather, Roy Erskine, is a retired professional footballer who played reserve team matches for Hibernian and in the Scottish Football League for Stirling Albion and Cowdenbeath. In 2009, Jamie began dating Alejandra Gutiérrez, a Colombian MBA student. They married in Cromlix House near Dunblane on 28 October 2010, with brother Andy acting as best man; Andy would later buy and refurbish the struggling hotel, and both he and their father Willie also subsequently celebrated their wedding receptions at the venue. Jamie and Alejandra Murray share two children and divorced on August 22, 2025, having separated the previous year.
Murray partnered Colin Fleming, winning their first Futures tournament on 4 September 2005 at the Great Britain F10 in Nottingham. Murray/Fleming won Futures titles at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Exmouth, amassing a total of four Futures plus four satellite titles. In October 2005, they made their debut at an ATP Challenger tournament in Southampton. The duo won their first round match but were defeated in the quarterfinals. Murray also played in the singles tournament draw in which he won the first qualifying round match but lost the second qualifying. That year, Murray also partnered Ross Hutchins, to win Futures in Bolton and Maïder Laval in Rimouski, Quebec In November 2005, Murray was part of the Scotland team in the inaugural Aberdeen Cup against England. This was an exhibition tournament, and the first time that Jamie and his brother Andy Murray played doubles as seniors. Murray also played singles, and mixed doubles with Elena Baltacha. Scotland defeated England 4+1⁄2– 2+1⁄2. In January 2006, Murray partnered Fleming in the Wrexham Challenger where they ended as runners-up after losing in the final to French duo Jean-François Bachelot and Stéphane Robert 6-4, 7-5. In February, Murray and Fleming played together in the Wolfsburg Challenger where they reached the quarterfinals. In April, Murray partnered Israeli Dudi Sela in the Santa Clarita Challenger where they lost in the first round. Murray also played the León Challenger, this time with fellow Briton Jamie Delgado where they lost in the first round. In May, he returned to action, this time with Australian Alun Jones in the Men's Pro Challenger at Tunica National where they reached the second round. In June, he played with Fleming in the Surbiton Trophy where they lost in the first round against Mardy Fish and Jeff Morrison. That month, Murray made his debut in an ATP Tour tournament at the 2006 Nottingham Open partnering with his brother Andy. The siblings had to retire in the first round due to Jamie's injury when they were 0-4 down to Stan Wawrinka and Justin Gimelstob. Murray and Colin Fleming's success gained them a wildcard into the main draw of the men's doubles at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, though they lost in the first round against Lucky Losers Zack Fleishman and Robert Smeets. Colin Fleming decided to quit the tour to return to the University of Stirling to complete his degree. In July, Murray and Fleming reached the final of the Shelbourne Irish Open where they were defeated 6-3, 2-6, [10-8] against Jasper Smit and Martijn van Haasteren. That same month, the Murray brothers played together again at the Newport Hall of Fame Tennis Championships where they lost in the first round against Igor Kunitsyn and Danai Udomchoke. Murray stayed in the U.S. to play the Comerica Bank Challenger with American Mirko Pehar where they reached the semifinals. Murray and American player Eric Butorac, playing together for the first time, reached the final of the Los Angeles ATP tournament which they lost in straight sets to the world's top-ranked doubles team, the Bryan brothers. The pair came to be known as Booty and Stretch, putting their nicknames on the back of their shirts. Murray finished the month playing the Vancouver Open with Fleming, where their lost in the quarterfinals. In August, Murray continued to make progress. He and Fleming reached the final of the Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger, where they lost to 7-5, 5-7, [10-3] against Scott Lipsky and David Martin. Murray ended his North American tour playing the GHI Bronx Tennis Classic with Chilean Paul Capdeville, where they lost in the quarterfinals. That same month, Murray won the Como Challenger along with Jamie Delgado, after beating Romanians Victor Crivoi and Gabriel Moraru in the final 6–2, 4–6, [10–7]. In September, the British duo remained in Italy to play the Genoa Open Challenger, where they lost in the final 6-4, 4-6, [13-11] against Adriano Biasella and Marcelo Charpentier. At the end of the month, Murray reached the final of the Bangkok ATP tournament with his brother Andy, losing to the top Israeli doubles pairing, Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich. In October, the brothers played together the Tokyo ATP tournament, where they reached the second round after losing to eventual runners-up Paul Goldstein and Jim Thomas. Jamie returned to play Challenger tournaments partnering with Delgado in the Nottingham Challenge, where they lost in the final 6-4, 4-6, [10-7] against Filip Prpic and Nicolas Tourte. In the Lambertz Open he switched partnership and played with Australian Jordan Kerr, where they reached the semifinals. In November, Murray continued to play with Kerr and the duo reached the final of the Slovak Open (where they lost 7-5, 6-3 against Butorac and Travis Parrott) and the quarterfinals of the PEOPLEnet Cup. At the end of the month, the Aberdeen Cup was held for the second time. Playing for Scotland, Murray participated in the singles, doubles with Andy, and mixed doubles with Elena Baltacha. Scotland won 6+1⁄2–1. In January 2007, the Murray brothers reached the semifinals of the Qatar Open where they lost to eventual winners Mikhail Youzhny and Nenad Zimonjić. In early February, Murray played with Butorac to claim their first doubles title in the AT&T Dallas Challenger after defeating Americans Rajeev Ram and Bobby Reynolds. They then won back to back doubles titles on the ATP Tour, at the Pacific Coast Championships in San Jose defeating Chris Haggard and Rainer Schüttler 7–5, 7–6(8–6) in the final and the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at the Racquet Club of Memphis winning 7–5, 6–3 against Julian Knowle and Jürgen Melzer. Murray remained in the U.S. to play the Tennis Open in Las Vegas. This time, his partner was Australian Ashley Fisher and they reached the semifinals. These victories lifted Murray into the top 50 in the ATP doubles rankings for the first time. In March, Murray returned with Butorac to play the Indian Wells Masters, where they lost in the second round, and in the Miami Open, where they lost in the first round. In April 2007, Murray received his first call-up to the Great Britain Davis Cup team, where he was picked for the doubles rubber in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I tie against the Netherlands. Jamie played alongside Greg Rusedski, beating Robin Haase and Rogier Wassen. After the match, Rusedski announced his retirement on court. Murray then played the Valencia Open with Butorac, where they lost in the quarterfinals. That month, he played with his brother Andy the Monte Carlo Masters, where they retired in the first round due to Andy's back injury. Murray partnered again with Butorac in the Barcelona Open and the Estoril Open, where they both lost in the first round. In May, Murray and Butorac continued to prepare for the clay season and played the Hypo Group Tennis International in Pörtschach where they reached the quarterfinals. Murray made it debut at the French Open men's doubles draw but the duo lost in the first round. In June, Murray and Butorac started the grass season playing at the Queen's Club Championships, where they lost in the quarterfinals. The next week, the duo participated in the Nottingham Open seeded as number 3. Murray and Butorac were the eventual winners of the tournament after defeating the British duo of Joshua Goodall and Ross Hutchins by 4–6, 6–3, [10–5]. With this positive result, the duo went on to the Wimbledon Championships. However, they went out in the third round after losing against Czech duo of Lukáš Dlouhý and Pavel Vízner. Nevertheless, Murray was successful in the mixed doubles partnering with Jelena Janković. Murray had met Janković at a party in Miami in 2006, where she was unaware that he played tennis. Murray's agent subsequently asked her if she would like to play mixed doubles with him at Wimbledon. She had made no decision until they arrived at the All England Club. At the same time, the day before the tournament started and Murray asked again, when she agreed. They won the Mixed Doubles title at Wimbledon, Murray becoming the first Briton to win a Wimbledon title for 20 years. Great Britain's last Wimbledon winners were Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie in 1987, also in the Mixed Doubles. In July 2007, Murray and Butorac started the hard court season at the Countrywide Classic, where they lost in the first round, then played in the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, losing in the quarterfinals, and in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, where they were out in the first round. In August, Murray continued his preparation for the US Open. First, he played the Canadian Open in Montreal partnering with American James Blake (losing in the first round), then took part in the Cincinnati Masters with Indian Mahesh Bhupathi (where they lost in the second round), and lastly he played the New Haven Open with Australian Jordan Kerr (losing in the semifinals). Since Memphis tournament in February, Murray and Butorac only went past the quarterfinals of a tournament once. In August, they agreed an amicable split, but decided to play together the US Open, where they lost in the second round. As for the mixed doubles, Murray reached the semifinal alongside Liezel Huber, coming within ten points of winning a place in the final. In September 2007, Murray was selected for the Davis Cup World Group Play-off against Croatia. Murray played the doubles with Tim Henman beating Marin Čilić and Lovro Zovko. Great Britain won 4-1 and were promoted to the World Group. In October, Murray returned to action with his younger brother Andy in the Moselle Open. The eventually lost in the second round. The next week, he partnered Kerr in the Vienna Open, where they were defeated in the first round. The next week, Murray went on to play the Madrid Open with Bahamian Mark Knowles, where they were the number 8 seeds. However, they lost in the second round to Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski. Late in that month, Murray played the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon with Kerr but they lost in the quarterfinals. Murray participated in the Paris Masters, his last tournament of the season, with his brother Andy. The brothers lost in the first round against Kerr and André Sá. Murray lost his singles ranking this year. Murray began 2008 with his new doubles partner Max Mirnyi, but the partnership struggled. Despite victory in the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships in February, they had failed to reach any other finals, winning just one of their first four matches as a pair and exiting eleven tournaments within the first two rounds, including at the 2008 Australian Open. Without Mirnyi, Murray has appeared to have had more success, reaching the semi-final of the Movistar Open with Nicolás Lapentti in January and final of the Estoril Open with Kevin Ullyett in April. Murray still showed some interest in singles tennis. He competed in a singles qualifying match against Marcel Granollers in January and applied for a wildcard singles entry for Wimbledon. He was given a wildcard into the qualifying stages for the Queen's Club Championships, but lost to Poland's Łukasz Kubot and was refused entry into the Wimbledon singles tournament. Whilst Murray enjoyed singles, he also thought the Davis Cup team would stand in good stead to have another member with recent singles experience, but he now accepted that he would henceforth only be a doubles player. With Mirnyi, he reached the final and semi-final of the Slazenger Open and Artois Championships respectively, but failed to progress beyond the third round of Wimbledon.
Murray had a public fall out with brother Andy Murray, criticising him for dropping out of the World Group first round tie against Argentina over fears he could aggravate a knee injury. Jamie played in and lost the doubles match with Ross Hutchins. Great Britain eventually lost 4–1. This was Great Britain's first World Group match since 2003, now facing a relegation play-off with Austria. The Murrays would not speak to each other for two weeks. At the Olympic Games, the two Murrays competed together in the doubles tournament. After defeating Canadian pair Frédéric Niemeyer and Daniel Nestor in the first Round, they then lost to the French pair, Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra, in straight sets. The Davis Cup captain John Lloyd said he watched the Murrays doubles at the Olympics, and it was clear they were not getting on. Mixed doubles once again proved to be more successful for Murray in 2008. Competing with Liezel Huber, he reached the final of the 2008 US Open, though they lost to Cara Black and Leander Paes. He also reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon and quarter-finals of Roland Garros. Seven months after the Davis Cup Argentina match, the Murray brothers prepared for the tie against Austria, with Andy declaring that he had healed the rift with Jamie. Andy won his singles matches, but Jamie and Ross Hutchins lost the doubles. Great Britain eventually lost their World Group play-off to Austria 3-2 and were relegated to Europe/Africa Zone Group 1. Mirnyi and Murray had mediocre results, compiling a 15–17 record. They split in September 2008, and Murray formed a new partnership with Dušan Vemić of Serbia at the start of the 2009 season. In November 2008, Murray finished the season partnering Jamie Delgado. They played in the Slovak Open (where they were defeated in the quarterfinals), the PEOPLEnet Cup (where they lost in the first round) and the IPP Open (where they were defeated in the first round). In 2009, Murray played the Brisbane and Sydney tournaments with Vemić but played the Australian Open with his old partner Eric Butorac as Vemić was unavailable. Butorac and Murray, who had not played together since the 2007 US Open, lost in the first round at Melbourne Park. Since splitting from Vemić at the end of February, Murray played with several different partners, including Simon Aspelin, Jamie Delgado (playing together the Status Athens Open), Paul Hanley (playing together the Zagorka Cup and the Tunis Open), Pavel Vízner (playing together the Zagreb Open, Gilles Müller and Jonathan Erlich. With Müller he reached the semi-final at Nottingham, his best result since the same tournament last year. Murray played with Vízner at the French Open and with Erlich at Wimbledon, but was defeated in the first round of both tournaments. However, he did reach the semifinals of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon with his regular partner Liezel Huber. Dropping out of the world top one hundred, Murray returned to the Challenger circuit with new partner Jamie Delgado playing in the Poznań Open. The British duo returned to the ATP Tour to play the Umag Open, where they were defeated in the first round. This was the last top level tournament Murray played in the season. Once he started playing in the lower ranked tournaments, he took part in the San Marino Open and the Zucchetti Kos Tennis Cup. However, he only won his first tournament of any sort in eighteen months at the Tirani Cup in August 2009. He then participated in the Savoldi–Cò – Trofeo Dimmidisì followed by victory at the TEAN International (with Jonathan Marray). Murray returned to action with Delgado at the Banja Luka Challenger and became champions of the Ljubljana Open. The pair then went on to play at the Ethias Trophy and the Købstædernes ATP Challenger, where they lost both times in the first round. He was a semifinalist at Open d'Orléans. In November, partnering Jonathan Marray, Murray went on to win the President's Cup. Murray finished the season at the Slovak Open, being defeated in the first round.
Jamie played regularly with fellow Briton Jonathan Marray. He started the 2010 year as a semifinalist in the ATP Challenger event in the Prime Cup Aberto de São Paulo with Jonathan Marray. His first win of the year came in Salinas, Ecuador. He lost in another Challenger event in the Open Bucaramanga on clay in the quarterfinals. Murray played his first ATP tournament of the season at the Zagreb Indoors but was defeated in the first round. He returned to Challenger tournaments and won the Internazionali di Tennis di Bergamo. Murray took part in the Serbia Challenger Open, the Cherbourg Challenger, the Morocco Tennis Tour – Marrakech, the Jersey International, the Open Prévadiès Saint–Brieuc, the Soweto Open, the Status Athens Open and the Ixian Grand Aegean Tennis Cup with no major success other than being runners-up of the latter tournament as well as the Jersey International. Murray returned to play an ATP tournament at the 2010 Serbia Open but lost in the first round. He then went back to Challenger tournaments by playing the Trofeo Paolo Corazzi. He then went on to participate in the second Grand Slam of the season, the French Open, but lost in the first round. Murray started to prepare the grass season at the Queen's Club Championships losing in the second round. He then played the Eastbourne International but lost in the first round. At the Wimbledon Championships, Murray received a wildcard but was defeated in the first round. He also competed in the mixed doubles, alongside Laura Robson, but also lost in the first round. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, he competed for Scotland. Playing singles, he was beaten by England's James Ward in the second round; partnering Colin Fleming in the doubles, they lost in the first round. Playing in his first tournament since getting married, Murray played with his brother Andy Murray. The pair had a great week in Valencia and won the tournament. This was Jamie's first win on the top level of the tour for over two years and the first time that he has won a doubles title with his brother. Murray ended the season with another Challenger win, in Bratislava.
Murray began 2011 playing with Xavier Malisse. Though the pair lost in their first ATP event at Chennai, Murray won his first match at a Grand Slam since Wimbledon 2008 as they progressed to the second round of the Australian Open. Murray followed this up with two semi-final appearances, partnering Alexander Peya at the SA Open and his brother Andy at Rotterdam. These successes saw Murray climb back into the world top 50. At the French Open, Murray and his partner Chris Guccione were eliminated in the second round of the men's doubles by the top-seeded Bryans, but he progressed to the semi-finals of the mixed doubles with Nadia Petrova. In August, he reached the semi-finals of the Winston–Salem Open but lost in straight sets to Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya. He partnered Santiago González. At the US Open, he and partner González went out in the first round in straight sets to Jürgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner, who went on to win the tournament. He next played at the Open de Moselle, where he partnered André Sá, going on to win the tournament by defeating Lukáš Dlouhý and Marcelo Melo in the final, winning in straight sets. Two weeks later, he won his second title of the year partnering with brother Andy Murray at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. They defeated František Čermák and Filip Polášek. In doing so, he rose to a career-high doubles ranking of no. 23 in the world. Murray began 2012 playing at the Brisbane International partnering Paul Hanley for the first time. They made it into the second round, but lost in straight sets. At the Australian Open the pair lost in the first round in three sets to Julian Knowle and Michael Kohlmann. Murray got to his first final of the season again partnering Paul Hanley at the Open Sud de France, but lost the final to Nicolas Mahut and Édouard Roger-Vasselin in straight sets. At the French Open, Murray, this time partnering Carsten Ball, lost in the first round to Yen-Hsun Lu and Go Soeda in three sets. At Wimbledon, Murray re-partnered with longtime partner Eric Butorac for the first time in five years. They went out in the second round in straight sets to Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra. Having lost in the first round at the German Open, Murray next competed at the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the doubles event partnering Brother Andy, who was also competing in the singles event. Jamie described partnering his brother at the London Olympics as a dream come true. Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins also competed together to represent Great Britain in the doubles event. Unfortunately, the dream was not long lived as they lost in the first round to Austria (Melzer/Peya) in a very close three-setter. At the 2012 US Open, Murray had another disappointing campaign as he and partner André Sá lost in the first round to fifteenth seeds Peya/Soares in straight sets. They did, however, go on to reach the final of a challenger in Pétange the following week. The pair didn't go on to achieve much more in the remainder of the 2012 season, their most notable result coming at the Erste Bank Open where they reached the semi-finals. Murray then spent the final month of the season playing with a variety of different partners on the Challenger Tour. Murray began 2013 playing with fellow Scot, Colin Fleming. Their first tournament was the Brisbane International where they were only able to make the quarter-finals despite being second seeds. They followed this up with a poor showing at the Australian Open where they lost their opening match to Kohlmann/Nieminen in straight sets. Murray was close to sliding out of the doubles top 100 and contemplated quitting the sport altogether. At the start of February 2013, Murray paired up with John Peers. This partnership looked to be more successful as they reached the semi-finals of their first tournament together, the Open Sud de France. They continued playing together and won their first title of the year at the US Men's Clay Court Championship, upsetting the top-seeded Bryan brothers in the final.
