Andy Murray, another British tennis hope - Part II
The pressure of being Andy Murray…
The last time a British male player won a Grand Slam was in 1936 courtesy Fred Perry. Since then names such as Tim Henman and Canadian-born British Greg Rusedski have played with distinction without really enjoying great success at Wimbledon. Murray as a result has often had to play under tremendous pressure during the tournament that gets the maximum press, Wimbledon. The pressure which the British press puts on Murray was best summed up by Federer when he once said it seemed that Britons hadn’t won a Slam for like “one hundred and fifty thousand years.”
At Wimbledon…
At Wimbledon, his performance to date at best matches that of Tim Henman. He’s reached the quarter-final in 2008 and then failed to progress beyond the semi-final in both, 2009 and 2010. In 2009, he had serious chances of making it to the final with him being in peak form. He was seeded third in Nadal’s absence [who had to pull out due to injury] and had won at the Queen’s, the warm-up tournament played two weeks prior to Wimbledon. By winning there, he’d won his first title on grass and was considered by a lot of people as the second favourite behind Federer.
Stopped by Roddick in 2009…
Murray did well to justify his high seeding but in the semi-final, an utterly inspired Andy Roddick proved too hot for Murray to handle. The big serving American’s serves were working as usual, but his passes and rallies from the baseline completely took Murray by surprise as he lost in four sets.
In 2010…
A year later, Murray was in not in the best of form having had nothing to show since his finals appearance at the Australian Open. However, in front of his loved supporters, Murray stormed through to the quarter-final without having dropped a set. Against Jo Wilfred Tsonga, he did drop a set before coming through in four to set up a semi-final clash against World no. 1 Rafael Nadal. Nadal, despite being the best player in the world has had trouble reaching the semi-final and many tipped Murray to finally breach the wall and reach his maiden final at the All England Club.
Stopped by Nadal…
But it was deja vu all over again as Murray failed to stop the Spaniard, losing in straight sets. In the press conference he later said that losing at the most hallowed place did hurt, but promised to be back next year.
Rivalry with Novak Djokovic…
Against Novak Djokovic, the player who’s consistently been ranked just above him, Murray has enjoyed a decent run off late. He’d lost to Djokovic in their initial four meetings when the Serbian was fairly well established even as Murray was just about beginning to find his feet on the circuit. But in their past three meetings, Murray has gone past Djokovic, each time in straight sets, and two of them coming in the final of Masters Series.
Rivalry with Juan Martin Del Potro…
Murray has enjoyed a very frosty relationship with his other chief rival on the circuit, Juan Martin Del Potro. During their very first meeting, Murray accused Potro of hitting him with a shot from point blank range. Potro in response accused both, Murray and his mother of being ‘notorious whiners’. Though in their subsequent meetings, nothing controversial has taken place, their matches have never been short of drama with Murray leading their head-to-head record 5-1. However, the Argentine has a Grand Slam in his kitty, an astounding win at the 2009 US Open that included wins over Nadal and Federer in the semis and final respectively.
Murray and a Grand Slam win…
Though Andy Murray unlike Djokovic and Potro has yet to win a Slam, almost every top player is of the view that his date with destiny will come sooner rather than later. Both, Federer after having defeated him at the Australian Open in 2010, and then Nadal on getting past Murray at Wimbledon 2010, have gone on record to say that Murray’s too good a player to not win a Grand Slam soon.
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