Andy Murray in round two of the Rome Masters by qualifier Juan Mónaco, and he reached the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters, losing to Juan Martín del Potro. During this time Murray achieved the highest ever ranking of a British male in the Open Era when he reached the No. 3 ranking on 11 May 2009. Murray reached the quarter-finals of the French Open, but was defeated by Fernando González in four sets. Murray won for the first time on grass at Queen's and became the first British winner of the tournament since 1938. In the final Murray defeated American James Blake.
2008 Wimbledon Championships – Day-by-day summaries caused his retirement in the singles earlier in the day. In the women's doubles competition, French Open mixed doubles champion Victoria Azarenka & partner Shahar Pe'er proceeded to the next round. In the men's singles, Queen's Club champion, 2006 and 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Rafael Nadal scored his first win, securing a second round spot along with Jarkko Nieminen, Nicolas Kiefer, Tommy Robredo, Richard Gasquet, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Radek Štěpánek, Gilles Simon, Nicolás Almagro, Mikhail Youzhny, James Blake, two-time finalist Andy Roddick, and twelfth seed Andy Murray, who overcame 'The Magician' Fabrice Santoro 6–3, 6–4, 7–6(5), in little more than two hours,