There were more rain delays at Wimbledon on Saturday, but that did not prevent it from being an ideal day for Andy Murray. Most importantly for the 2013 champion, he defeated John Millman 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the last 16. The second-ranked Scot cracked eight aces without double-faulting and broke serve six times to prevail in two hours and 10 minutes.
“I think I’m playing well,” Murray assessed. “You know, some of the tennis I played at the end of the matches, in particular the last two matches, in the third sets of both of those, have been very good.”
It was too good for Millman, who at least cherished the opportunity of playing on the most famous court in the sport.
“It was good,” the Aussie noted. “Centre Court is a special place for a tennis player at Wimbledon. Yeah, it was special. I left it all out there. Andy was too good. But, yeah, I will remember it for a long time.”
But this day will be remembered for a different match that was put on Court 1, where Sam Querrey stunned two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in four sets. Djokovic had triumphed at both the Australian Open and French Open this season, held all four major titles, and was seeking a calendar-year Grand Slam.
“Rather than it being sort of a surprise, it should really be sort of almost celebrated now, what he’s actually done,” Murray said of the world No. 1. “I mean, it’s incredible. He broke a number of records, winning all four slams; what was it, 30 consecutive Grand Slam matches? It’s amazing. Yeah, obviously I would imagine today he’d be disappointed and stuff. But looking back, it’s been probably the best 12 months in tennis for years.
“It doesn’t (affect me) because if I was to reach the final, then it may have some bearing really, but it doesn’t right now. My draw’s still exactly the same.”
And it’s a draw that, although difficult, has some advantages. Only two players–Murray and Bernard Tomic–in the bottom half have advanced to the last 16. Two third-round matches have not even started and four others were postponed from Saturday to middle Sunday because of darkness.
This marks the first time since 2004 that there will be tennis on the middle Sunday.
Murray, who is now the odds-on title favorite with Djokovic gone awaits either Nick Kyrgios or Feliciano Lopez during fourth-round action on Monday. His four potential quarterfinal opponents are also still in progress.
Stunned. But so happy for Sam!
Something was wrong with Djokovic. An injury maybe?
It seems like it, but Novak refuses to talk about it in order not to diminish Sam’s victory…I just saw his post match interview in Serbian…pure class…Novak is great champion and so gracious in defeat…boy, I was irritated with how many stupid questions the press imposed on him…and he was able to handle it so well…I admire him for being so patient with media…respect…
If you say you’re not 100% percent and then say you don’t want to talk about it, you’re NOT giving credit. It’s classic Nadal PR work. Djokovic has definitely learned from the best.
What strikes me is his defiant ‘no’ when asked if he was comfortable on Court. 1. All players including Roger have played on Court 1 nearly every single year including when he was a defending champ. Funny but it was Novak who didn’t play there at all last year. You’d think a player of his ‘calibre’ on grass would be comfortable on any type of grass Court.
So you should tell that to the stupid reporters to stop asking those questions?! What do you expect an injured player to say? You want him to lie?? Or just do some nice acting and say no no all is well I am perfectly fine when later turns out he takes a few months off to recover(in Nadal’s case) ?! I think he answered fine just like Nadal has…they try to focus on the match and the opponent but keep getting those questions..eveb if they say ‘no comments’ you will again say excellent PR work!
And let me guess, Nadal took 3 months off after his RG 09 loss just for the sake of proving he was injured?!! He missed a slam where he was the defending champ ?!
Or may be you are accustomed to federer who outright says the fading light in the 08 final was a disadvantage for him!!! LOL
As opposed to Roger who complained about his back for a year and continued to whine about it for another year after it got better lol.
Such “class” lol.
or, fed fans prefer it the Fed way… his way of describing his loss to Robredo in 2013 USO:
“I kind of feel like I beat myself, without taking any credit away from Tommy,”
Yeah Roger, that’s surely not taking credit away.
Or, the Fed logic after his loss to Gulbis in RG 2014:
“When you go deep in a fifth set, margins are so small that it’s not necessarily always the fitter guy who wins or always necessarily the better player who wins. You just have to create chances, and he did that definitely better in the fifth today than me.”
So, isn’t it that the better/fitter player wold create more chances? lol
Of course he gets big upset after I put my life savings on him
to beat Querrey or to win title?
Looks like Roger is backing his way into winning his 18th just like he did to win the French in 2009.
I wonder if he’ll have to face more than one top 20 player this time lol.
Well he met two top 20 players in RG 2009. 11th seed Monfils in the qfs and 5th seed Del Porto. And even if Soderling wasn’t a top 20 player at that point, after this tournament he became a member of the top 10 until his injury.
You can’t say this road to the title was easy. Of course it didn’t contain Nadal nor Djokovic, but it wasn’t THAT easy. Tommy Haas wasn’t a top 20 player in terms of ranking due to injury, but he played an amazing match and was really close to dismantling Roger in the 4th round. Ranking is not everything.
Should Andy miraculously find a way to beat Roger at Wimbledon after Roger routined him last year, he would only be about 600 points behind Nole in the Race to London.
haha…I think Andy is the favourite this year…Roger will have to work really really hard to beat Andy.
1) Roger’s confidence level has been shaky and he is still to show his top level
2) Murray’s kind of hit his career peak after his sensational clay court run. He appears to be there.
Roger had a CRAZY serving day in last year’s semi…don’t think he can replicate that at will.