Murray may have discovered his calling, but his journey didn’t come without its trials and tribulations. Fearful of ‘failure’, the young coach admitted that he has always felt the heavy weight of expectation on his shoulders.

“Failure, for me, is not living up to people’s expectations of me,” he explained. “A lot of people would expect big things of me, and I eventually put too much pressure on myself. So, anytime I didn’t reach those goals, it almost felt like a failure to me.

“I was not very self-motivated; I think that was the problem. I always did things for other people. My tennis career was always for my parents or my coaches as I always just wanted to impress them and do them proud. In that sense, I think I am very externally motivated.

“Now, my motivation comes from the satisfaction of knowing that I am helping out and enabling others to fall in love with the sport like I did. but I found that little spark of motivation through the kids and the adults that I coach that need me.”

From fearful to fearless, Murray’s understanding of the word he once shied away from shifted as he began to learn from his failures, enabling him as he continues to go from strength to strength in his own career.

“Now, I think failure is not giving something a go,” said Murray. “There are so many opportunities in the world and sometimes people fear to take them. I was once the same, but in the last year or two, I’ve just made the most out of every opportunity. That way, I will never look back on my life and think, ‘what could have been?’ I want to know that I did everything I can to get to where I want to be.”

In life, it is only natural to be anxious of the road ahead, but Murray assured that there is no reason to be hesitant or afraid, but to stay true and seek out a pathway that motivates you.

“Find your why,” he advised. “Why are you doing it? Once you find the why, you can then build your coaching career around that. Don’t be scared to fail and don’t be scared to ask for help. The LTA is there and there’s always people around that you can talk to.

“I’ve started doing some university squads and college tennis, and I realised that’s the path I want to go down. So, now the CPD has helped because you can build knowledge through the relevant courses.

“Just find your motivation to want to get up, go to work, and coach. Personally, my motivation was getting more ethnic minorities into the sport, ensuring I have a presence as a black male in coaching, and from helping and enabling people to fall in love with the sport like I did. Everyone has their own motivation; it’s just finding what gets you up in the morning.

“Don’t settle for something because it’s safe. If you love something and you put your whole heart into it, then you can make anything possible. Happiness must come first, so just do something that makes you happy.”