WHY is Andy Murray so unappreciated by large sections of the British public?

We have precious little sporting success to cheer, but Murray's brilliance in netting his second Wimbledon title in three years almost a fortnight ago was met with a predictably astounding lack of joy by many who are quick to 'relegate' him to being Scottish the second he loses.

Of course, tennis is not as physically gruelling as playing rugby for 80 minutes, as England did successfully thrice in Australia. Tennis will never be as dangerous as hurtling round Silverstone like Lewis Hamilton seems quite content to do.

But while Murray's achievement was every bit as impressive and steely-nerved as those recent revered victories there is still something that prevents him from being taken to the nation's heart.

He seems to divide opinion like few others. I concede that his monotone utterances may make him appear indifferent about his latest win but the passion he shows mid-match can back-hand those arguments away. He is just, well, maybe a bit dull. But is that necessarily a bad thing in what, Davis Cup aside, is primarily a solo sport for the world number two.

Under the equally uneffervescent Ivan Lendl, Murray is focused and driven and feels no need to be the quick-witted raconteur he clearly is not. And anyway, being dour and uninteresting never did the likes of Steve Davis and Nigel Mansell any harm, did it? Or Tim Henman for that matter.

Henman was arguably far more adored despite never reaching the final at Wimbledon, or, indeed, at any grand slam.

Despite this he still has that hill named after him, and Henmania – oh yes, Henmania – I shudder at the very mention of the name.

In fairness, Henman and his puny fist-pump restored the decades-long-gone hope that a Brit could prosper at Wimbledon, so he got to have a lump of grass in SW19 named after him.

That is despite coming second to Greg Rusedski in Sport Personality of the Year, a prize Murray could become the first to win twice in a row this year as well as having won it in 2013.

And while Henman was unfortunate enough to be playing at the same time as Pete Sampras, today's British racquet-wielding hero has had it even harder with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to contend with at their various peaks.

With Federer's powers seemingly on the wane and Nadal unlikely to be the same through injury Murray is far and away the closest to knocking Novak off his perch as world number one. When the Serb lost everyone thought the men's singles title was Murray's to lose, such is the fans' and experts' faith in his abilities.

Looking at the way he overcame Milos Raonic and his 140mph serve in the final it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he would have won had he faced Djokovic anyway.

So maybe it is high time we afford Murray the acclaim his talent warrants. We Brits are supposed to love a loser, but let's give a born winner his dues too.