Andy Murray’s farewell at Wimbledon was a highly emotional moment. His very successful career has brought great joy to him and his family, to the town of Dunblane and to the nation. He brought the long wait for another British men’s champion to an end when he defeated Novak Djokovic in 2013. The two men know each other well. Novak is just 7 days older than Andy, and both have committed their lives to becoming tennis champions. Novak left Serbia at the age of 12 to go to Germany to learn his skills. Andy left Dunblane when he was 15 to train in Spain.

Andy has experienced great sadness as well as triumph. He was a pupil at Dunblane Primary School when a local man shot 17 people. Andy’s class was due to be the next in the gym where the shooting took place. In the year of Andy’s first Wimbledon title his best friend, and former doubles partner, Ross Hutchins, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Andy said, “Tennis obviously means a lot to me, but at the end of the day there’s a lot more to life than just playing tennis.” Ross was at the Centre Court to see Andy win the title.

Andy has achieved success through hours of great physical and mental effort and, more recently, a few hip surgery operations. He has persevered through dedication and patience in the face of disappointments. He said, “I think I persevered, that’s really been it, the story of my career probably. I had a lot of tough losses, but the one thing I say is I think every year I always improved a little bit, every year my ranking was going in the right direction.”

Andy exemplifies very important qualities and insights. The triumphs of life are very brief and transitory. We learn far more through the hard things, such as disappointments, setbacks and tragic events. A Christian song affirms this, “I walked a mile with pleasure, she chatted all the way, but I was none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow, not a word said she, but O the things I learned that day when sorrow walked with me.” Sad experiences remind us of our mortality and point us to the ultimate realities of eternity. The apostle Paul wrote, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever.”