First it was Serena Williams who finished runner-up at the Australian Open and French Open before leaping over the final hurdle and triumphing at Wimbledon. Andy Murray, also second place in Melbourne and at Roland Garros, followed suit on Sunday at the All-England Club. Murray lifted the winner’s trophy for the second time in his career by defeating Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2) after two hours and 48 minutes.
“Last time it was just pure relief, and I didn’t really enjoy the moment as much,” the Scot reflected, “whereas I’m going to make sure I enjoy this one more.”
Not too unexpectedly, a single break of serve decided the first set of this one. It came when Murray, who had failed to capitalize on a break-point opportunity at 1-1, converted his third chance of the match thanks to a netted forehand volley by Raonic at 3-3, 30-40. Raonic almost fell into a huge hole right away in the second, but he fought off one break point when Murray dumped a forehand in the net and managed to hold. The underdog saved two more break points at 4-4, both thanks to noticeably tight mistakes by Murray.
After delivering a Herculean effort just to force a tiebreaker, Raonic threw it all away with the set on the line. He botched a short volley on his first service point and soon faced deficits of 3-0 and 6-1. Murray, at 6-3, came up with a second serve off the line that Raonic not handle.
“I was keeping up with him,” Raonic commented, “but then when it counted, I wasn’t able to get on top.”
The story was a similar one in set three, with the Canadian clinging to life support en route to another tiebreaker before Murray took complete control. The world No. 2 seized an immediate mini-break for 2-0 with a backhand pass and struck again for 3-0 when Raonic shanked a forehand. Murray soon built advantages of 5-0 and 6-1 before converting his second championship point by forcing Raonic into a backhand error.
“I don’t really think so,” the sixth seed answered when asked if playing in his first major final was overwhelming. “I think it was more…you know you’re not going to play your best tennis by any means. You sort of have to dig it out. That’s pretty much the thing you’re fighting against the most, trying to find the level that’s good enough.”
“I don’t mind failing,” the three-time major champion admitted. “Failing’s okay, [provided] that you’ve given your best and put everything into it…. I put myself in a position all of the time in these events to win them; haven’t won them all of the time. I’ve lost a lot of close ones against great players most of the time.”I wasn’t really thinking too much about the previous matches that I played against anyone. I just saw this more as an opportunity to try and win another Wimbledon title.”
Huge for Murray. Congrats Andy!!
Happy for Murray! Hope he is back to his 2012-13 form. He did seem formidable but the acid test would be winning against Djok.
congrats, Muzz
I am very happy for Andy. It’s been a long time. I thought his emotional reaction said it all. He really broke down once he did it. So it means that much to him.
It’s great to see him playing this well again,
Well done Andy! Enjoy it!
Congrats Andy!
Congrats Murray. For the first time (I believe), his ranking points exceeds 10,000. Well done. His race points is only 815 behind Djoko’s; even if we less off DC final points of 275, he is only 1090 points behind Djoko.
If Murray continues to play like this, any slip ups by Djoko may see Murray surging ahead and may even end the season as no.1. We shall see how things unfold…
he certainly has to win the US Open
?
Hardly. Depends on how Nole does.
He can’t make up that many points if he doesn’t win the USO (given that if Murray doesn’t win, it means Djokovic will)
The stars were all in alignment for Murray on Sunday. I wrote the other day that to fail to take this opportunity was unthinkable for him but it was also an added pressure. He rose to the challenge magnificently and his emotional reaction told the whole world what it meant to him. There were comments galore “ah, but he didn’t have to get past Djokovic” as if this diminished what he achieved. Wrong. Andy would still have lifted his 2nd Wimby crown even with Djokovic in the mix.
I strongly believe the Davis Cup factor played a role in Andy’s success in the same way it did for Djokovic who went on his famous 2013 run after leading the Serbs to victory late in 2012.
#Success begets success.
Yeah,and I can see him winning the US as well.Confidence is everything
I think there is no doubt that Murray will get a lot of confidence from this win. Also, the way he won it was so impressive. Playing some of his best tennis and showing composure and focus and mental strength along the way.
Andy has already beaten Novak at the USO and Wimbledon. That was before the back surgery, but Andy always had the game to take on Novak. It’s true that Novak has raised the bar in the last year or two, while Andy had to recover from the back surgery. But the Andy Murray we saw at Wimbledon, looked so much like the Andy who beat Novak to win his first two slams.
Andy was interviewed after his win over Berdy and he spoke about the difficulties of recovering from the back surgery. He said that it took him a long time to get his conditioning back and also to have confidence in his body. So it was a struggle to get back to his best.
I think Andy will be ready to take on Novak should they meet in the final at the USO. This win has no asterisk beside it. You play the one who gets to the final. Novak wasn’t good enough this time to do it.
It’s the power of Lendl guys. Such a boss.
It was a bitter blow for Andy when Lendl left but I get the impression the reunion is equally satisfactory for both of them. Interestingly Lendl spoke individually to each of the other members of the team before making the decision to rejoin and from the frequent exchanges with Delgrado during matches it is clear they have a mutual respect for each other.
All is calm on the Western Front for the time being.