Sir Andy Murray, who was awarded a knighthood for services to tennis and charity in the 2016 New Year Honours list, has the distinction of being the only sportsperson to have been voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year on three separate occasions. Glasgow-born Murray first did so in 2013, the year in which, at the age of 26, he became the first Briton to win the men’s single title at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. Reflecting on his 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Novak Djokovic in the final, he said during his acceptance speech, “I know sometimes I’m not the easiest person to support but I’ve had a lot of pressure on me for a long time. I’m glad I managed to do it.” He beat rugby union player Leigh Halfpenny and jockey Tony McCoy in the public vote to become the fourth tennis player to win the award, after Ann Jones, Virginia Wade and Greg Rusedski.
Two years later, in 2015, Murray won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award again. He was instrumental in Great Britain winning the Davis Cup for the first time since beating Australia 3-2 in the final of the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, as the tournament was known until 1946, in 1936. He also finished runner-up, to Djokovic, in the Australian Open and reached the semi-finals in the French Open and at Wimbledon. This time, he polled 35% of the public vote to beat rugby league player Kevin Sinfield into second place and heptathlete Jessica Ennis Hill into third.
In 2016, Murray was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for a record third time, beating triathlete Alistair Brownlee into second place and showjumper Nick Skelton into third. In an eventful year, Murray won the Wimbledon men’s singles title for the second time, beating Milos Raonic in straight sets in the final, defended his Olympic men’s singles title, beatingJuan Martín del Potro in four sets in the gold medal match, and towards the end of the year replaced Djokovic as world number one. Accepting the award via video-link from Miami, Florida, he said, “It’s been a great year for British sport and I am so proud to have been a part of it.”