Andy Murray & Roland Garros: taking the legend on a Parisian trip down memory lane 

PARIS—In 2005, Andy Murray was the top-ranked junior boy when Roland Garros rolled around.

The Dunblane native would reach the semifinals of the tournament, and while Murray is the first to admit he needed time to navigate the surface once moving up to the professional ranks, he’s more than proven himself a worthy competitor at the clay-court major with a 39-11 record boosted by a 2016 runner-up showing to go with four additional semifinals.

As he prepares for an expected farewell appearance in Paris, where Murray opens against a familiar foe Sunday night in Stan Wawrinka, we took the future Hall of Famer on a little trip down memory lane through a series of photos from the tournament.

Gotta ask to start, how long did your headband era run?

MURRAY: I genuinely don't remember that happening. I clearly was young.

Do you recall anything else about your 2005 junior appearance?

MURRAY: Oh, this was juniors? I lost in the semis to Marin Cilic, I remember that. I don't remember any other matches that I played. Yeah, it's an unfortunate look that one.

Moving on to 2009… this is more of a visual metaphor confirming clay required some patience to find your footing?

MURRAY: Clay's always been the toughest surface for me to move on. Some players find that with grass or hard courts, but I never really grew up playing on it. It always takes me quite a few weeks before I felt comfortable again. I've hit the deck quite a few times here, unfortunately.

Promise we have some happier moments for you to look at. So 2010, this was the first time you came back from two sets down on clay. Fair to say this may be one of your more underrated wins in your career, given the scene, first round against Richard Gasquet?

MURRAY: I remember that being a really tough draw, playing Gasquet in the first round and I think he'd done really well the week beforehand as well. He was obviously an unbelievable shotmaker, and I remember that match being really tough with the crowd on Suzanne Lenglen. I kept fighting and managed to turn it around. It was a good win for me.

For this picture, just want to quickly test your memory to see if you have any idea what match this is from?

MURRAY: I have no idea and I don't know whether I'm happy or sad in this picture. Do you know?

This is from when you picked up your first clay win over David Ferrer in 2015.

MURRAY: Is this after I won?

You won this point.

MURRAY: So, that's me happy, which is quite incredible, isn't it, really?

So this image is rather fitting now. 2016: Surely among your greatest performances beating the defending champion Wawrinka at Roland Garros?

MURRAY: Definitely one my best matches on clay and the conditions that day were not that favorable for me. I remember it being very wet and damp, it'd been like that throughout most of the tournament. But I played really well on the clay throughout the whole clay season there and played a really good match against Stan there. Matches like that can go either way, but I felt like I deserved to get through that one. I played really well from start to finish.

Bringing it to the present. This is actually the Slam where you have your second-highest winning percentage of the four. To finish, any thoughts you'd like to share about the significance of this tournament in your career.

MURRAY: Roland Garros means a lot to me. Clay was obviously always a surface that I had found most challenging because I didn't grow up on it. And I felt like when I lost the final in 2016, that's probably the one result in my career I'd like to change because if I'd managed to get through, it would've been probably my biggest win or most surprising one. I’ve played some amazing matches here. I played Rafa a few times, Novak, Stan. But I always remember the match against the French players, they create a proper atmosphere. It's always very hostile and intense and I always loved those matches. So glad to be back again and hope to create a few more memories.