Andy Murray is like Captain America

He is way behind Big 3(Hulk/Thor) but much ahead of others(Hawkeye/Black Widow)

Any time an impressive Murray stat comes out, the words ‘big 3’ and ‘Wawrinka’ are never far behind, and not in a good way.

It seems impossible for a lot of us to give him his due props without caveating it with him not being big 3 calibre or his peak not being particularly high or long-lasting.

When it comes to discussing the big 4, we need to distinguish whether we are talking accolades and legacy, or level of play during the big 4 era.

Yes, in terms of the former Murray is nowhere close to the other 3. But in terms of the latter, we can’t simply say the big 3 was better than him, because the truth is, during 2011-16, Djokovic was so much better than Fedal that we cannot put them in the same unit.

During that period:

Slams won:

Djokovic - 11, Nadal - 5, Murray - 3, Federer - 1

Masters won:

Djokovic - 25, Nadal - 10, Murray - 8, Federer - 7

Tour finals won

Djokovic - 4, Federer - 1, Murray - 1, Nadal - 0

YE #1:

Djokovic - 4, Nadal - 1, Murray - 1, Federer - 0

Win%:

Djokovic - 89.5%, Federer - 82.6%, Nadal - 82.1 %, Murray - 81.9%

Murray was right up there with Fedal, and was undoubtedly the second best player outside of clay during this period.

Murray beat the Big-3 28 times. No one else comes even remotely close. That’s why it was called the Big-4 era. He was right up there with them in dominance over the rest of the field, and he was the only one who could consistently beat them.

Poor Murray. Relegated to the likes of Sampras, Agassi and McEnroe. The difference between him and the rest of the field was smaller than him and the big 3