Profile: Andy Murray

Murray has only lost one set en route to the Australian Open final

Andy Murray is already considered by many to be the greatest British tennis player of the post-war era - despite losing to Roger Federer in a grand slam final for the second time.

The 22-year-old single-minded Scot has become a household name over the past five years but not always for the right reasons.

He reached number two in the world rankings last year, but has remained for many British fans a hard figure to warm to.

So what do we know about the only British man to reach two Grand Slam finals since the 1930s?

He is fiery and focused - a player of few words and even fewer smiles. He is 6ft 3in, weighs just over 13 stone, started playing tennis at the age of three and was born in the Perthshire town of Dunblane.

He was there when Thomas Hamilton walked into his school and killed 16 children and one adult in 1996. He was not in the same class, did not witness the shootings and rarely talks about it.

The other thing most people know about Murray is his mother Judy.

A tennis coach and former Scottish champion, she is often accused of being "a pushy mum", but even if she is, both Andy and his older brother Jamie - a Wimbledon mixed doubles champion in his own right - do not seem to mind one bit.

'Anti-English'

A mop-headed and gangly Andy Murray first came to the British public's attention during his Wimbledon debut in 2005.

He has not been allowed to forget the moment he got cramp when he was two sets up against the former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian.

Unjust criticism about his fitness followed - the press were also not enamoured by his gruff demeanour.

Murray's ex-girlfriend Kim often sat with mum Judy at tournaments

Then came that World Cup comment which has dogged him ever since.

During an interview, he joked he would cheer on anyone but England during the football tournament in Germany in 2006.

Sources close to Murray say he has the driest of humours, which is very often lost in translation.

He will perhaps never shake the anti-English label, despite the fact his grandmother is English, as is much of his training team.

Murray has done a lot of growing since then - both mentally and physically. He has warmed, not to the press per se, but to the fact that facing their questions is part of the modern game.

And his fitness level can be measured not only by his reaching two Grand Slam finals - at the 2008 US Open and the Australian Open of 2010 - but also his willingness to flex his "guns" as much as he can.

Devout teetotaller

In his pull-no-punches autobiography - Hitting Back - published in 2008, it is obvious that all he wants to do is win a Grand Slam.

It also revealed that the tennis ace would give former British Number One Tim Henman a run for his money in the clean-living stakes.

He loathes smoking, hates partying and is a devout teetotaller - he tried alcohol once but ended up throwing up outside a nightclub in Barcelona.

Robson and Murray were runners-up in the Hopman Cup in January 2010

According to his father Will - he and Judy split when Murray was just nine - the two brothers are completely different animals.

In an interview last year, he said: "Jamie is so outgoing, an entirely different personality from Andy who can be temperamental.

"Everyone has their own ways of reacting to situations and, in the heat of battle, it's never easy to keep your emotions in check."

His family say Andy was born ultra-competitive and his backbone of discipline, and perhaps also his athleticism, comes from his grandfather - a staunch Presbyterian who played for Hibernian Football Club.

Mixed doubles

His mother Judy has not been the only woman in Murray's life.

Until recently, his girlfriend of four year, Kim Sears, was another constant on the sidelines. They met, before he was a big name, at the US Open in 2005 - her father is the tennis coach Nigel Sears.

The 21-year-old is studying for a degree in English Literature and had moved into Murray's Surrey mansion along with their border terrier Maggi.

But in December, newspapers reported the couple had split, apparently by mutual agreement, although sources said they remained "good friends".

Ms Sears was credited with helping Murray lighten up off court, but more recently another girl has made him grin on it - his new mixed doubles partner Laura Robson.

The 16-year-old paired up with the Scot at the Hopman Cup in Perth in January 2010 - and they eventually finished as runners-up, enjoying a few laughs along the way.

Judging by the Murray Mount crowd, his popularity is soaring

Murray is ranked 13th in the Sunday Times's top 20 Young Rich Sports Millionaires List. His fortune doubled from £6m in 2008 to £12m last year.

With his fame and fortune on the rise, many would argue, with apologies to Fred Perry - the last British man to reach those two elusive Grand Slam finals - that Murray could become Britain's best ever player.

Some might say he has already made it what with all the Murraymania or Andymonium.

Then there's Henman Hill, which shall probably be known as Murray Mount for many, many more years to come.

In 2009, he missed out on a place in the Wimbledon final after losing to Andy Roddick, but few would bet against him putting things right this year.