Andy Murray is having a good year—a very good year.
All of his career, the 25-year-old tennis player has been plagued by the fact that he has never won a major tennis tournament.
On the weekend, he put that doubt to rest by winning the US Open.
The US Open is one of the big four, “Grand Slam” tennis tournaments. The others are the Australian Open (played on hard courts), the French Open (played on clay courts) and Wimbledon (grass courts). The US Open is played on hard courts.
Sometimes in sports, a “Grand Slam” refers to winning all of the major tournaments. In tennis, however, each of the major tournaments is known as a “Grand Slam.”
Britain has been waiting 76 years for a male player to win a Grand Slam singles event.
Murray had been waiting all his life.
The US Open was a hard-won victory for Murray. He had to beat Novak Djokovic, the second-best tennis player in the world.
At first, it looked like Murray would take the tournament in three games (players have to win three matches). He led Djokovik 7-6, 7-5 after the second set. But then Djokovic came back, to win the next two sets (6-3, 6-2).
Some of the games were incredibly long and hard-fought. One of them included a 54-shot rally. Murray won the fifth and deciding set 6-2. The whole match went for nearly five hours, which is a marathon for tennis.
In addition to his win at the US Open, the Scottish tennis player recently brought home another prize to Britain: a gold medal in the Olympics. He was the first British tennis player to win a gold medal in men’s singles tennis for Britain in more than 100 years. He also took silver in the doubles with partner Laura Robson.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Do you think Andy Murray will feel more or less pressure now that he has won two Olympic medals at the US Open tournament? Explain your answer using details from the text and your own ideas.
Reading Prompt: Comprehension Strategies
One of the main comprehension strategies we use when we read is questioning. In our mind, we constantly ask questions in order to think about what we are reading and to clarify meaning.
While you are reading this article, write down all of the questions that come to your mind. How many of these questions are answered right in the article? Which of your questions were not answered? How would you find out the answers to these unanswered questions?
Primary
Identify a variety of reading comprehension strategies and use them appropriately before, during, and after reading to understand texts (OME, Reading: 1.3).
Junior
Identify a variety of reading comprehension strategies and use them appropriately before, during, and after reading to understand texts (OME, Reading: 1.3).
Intermediate
Identify a variety of reading comprehension strategies and use them appropriately before, during, and after reading to understand increasingly complex texts (OME, Reading: 1.3).
Grammar Feature: En Dash
The en dash is a short dash that connects two things. For example, tennis scores such as 6-2 use an en dash to show that the score was 6 against 2.
What other ways are dashes used in this article?
