Murray, then aged 14, had been playing in Andorra in an international junior tournament and was passing time with a Spanish competitor. As the teenagers chatted, the two compared training regimes.
'This guy was telling me he practised with people like Carlos Moya, who had been world No 1,' said Murray.
You've come a long way: Andy Murray
'I started thinking. I never got the chance to practise with Tim Henman. I didn't even meet him properly until I was 16.'
That Spanish teenager was Rafa Nadal and it could be argued it was the two-time Wimbledon champion who put Murray on course to become the first British Wimbledon champion since Fred Perry.
On that day in 2001, Murray immediately phoned his mother, Judy, back home in Scotland.
'Do you know who this guy practises with?' ranted Murray.
Better late than never: Andy Murray and Tim Henman represented Great Britain together
From that conversation came the upheaval in the life of the Murray family they credit with turning a talented teenager into a world-class player.
It was to Catalonia that Murray turned in search of the environment Nadal had been enjoying.
The tennis centre of which the Spaniard spoke and where he hit with Moya was the Sánchez-Casal Academy, on the outskirts of Barcelona, run by Emilio Sánchez Vicario, brother of 1995 and 1996 Wimbledon ladies' finalist Arantxa, and Sergio Casal.
Early days: Andy Murray in training
Fees were £30,000 a year and, although the LTA put up £10,000, Judy and her husband William, from whom she had separated, were hard-pressed to meet the rest.
Only when Judy persuaded the likes of Tennis Scotland, Sport England and soft drinks firm Robinsons to contribute could Andy take his place.
'Judy was very clear what she wanted,' said Sánchez. On his arrival though, Sánchez was initially unimpressed.
'I remember the first time I played with him, he didn't look like anything,' he said. 'But when we began to play, he started hitting his shots, he had all these angles that kept putting me in difficult positions. It was amazing.'
Inspiration: Rafael Nadal (right) was an example to Andy Murray
In the Catalan sunshine, he could happily hit for four hours a day and train for an additional two with an intensity unknown in British tennis.
'I think the club system in England is part of the problem and perhaps the situation with weather,' said Sánchez.
'Here we only have 50 days of rain a year. In England there is a shortage of courts and competition.'
Within months of graduating, Murray won the junior US Open and began his march up the senior rankings.
And notwithstanding the nationwide disappointment of not being able to cheer on Nadal in the Wimbedon final, there will at least be a corner of Spain celebrating if Murray fulfils his destiny.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-2170261/Wimbledon-2012-The-day-Rafa-Nadal-set-Andy-Murray-road-stardom.html
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