The world’s 32nd most marketable athlete - Andy Murray

Andy Murray – British, 23, Tennis (22)

After reaching the final of the Australian Open, 2010 was set to be the year Andy Murray would become the first British tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title since Fred Perry in 1936. Despite reaching the final of the Australian Open again in 2011, the wait for a Grand Slam triumph for Murray and his supporters goes on.

Murray undoubtedly still has his best years ahead of him, though, and after switching from Fred Perry to Adidas in 2009 in a deal reported to be worth US$24.5 million over five years, he has very much become the face of the brand in tennis alongside current women’s number one Caroline Wozniacki. Murray is a little picky when it comes to signing sponsorship deals, generally only partnering with companies that assist in the promotion of grassroots tennis, such as RBS and Head. Highland Spring’s non-renewal of their long-running, multi-million dollar sponsorship with Murray in February this year perhaps indicates that his marketability is on the decline – probably temporarily, but it is certainly not aided by surging Serb Novak Djokovic looking the more likely to disrupt the Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer axis.

Sponsors nevertheless remain keen to align themselves with Britain’s Grand Slam champion-in-waiting, and management agent Simon Fuller will no doubt propel Murray further onto the global stage if, or perhaps more fittingly, when he seals that first Grand Slam.