Who could have won Wimbledon 2011: Andy Murray – Part 2
The http://www.senore.com/Who-could-have-won-Wimbledon-2011-Tomas-Berdych-and-Jo-Wilfried-Tsonga-Part-1-a80541 of the series had talked about Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Czech Tomas Berdych as potential champions. The second part of the series talks about local hope and world number four, Andy Murray of Great Britain.
3. Andy Murray
Great Britain’s only hope Andy Murray had a chance to become first British player to win the men’s singles title at the Wimbledon Championships since Fred Perry in 1936. He is one of the four most dominant and consistent players on the ATP World Tour for the last four years including Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Before Djokovic’s recent overtaking, the Brit was the only player to break Federer and Nadal’s hold on the top two spots of the South African Airways ATP Tennis Rankings when he replaced Nadal as the world number 2 for a short span of time in August 2009. The right-handed has a total of seventeen career titles to his name so far including two grass court titles at the Queen’s Club in London.
Murray entered this year’s Wimbledon Championships as a two time former semi-finalist. The Brit reached last four at the SW19 for the first time in 2009, losing to Andy Roddick of USA in four close sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-7(5). The London resident was thrashed by Nadal in straight sets 4-6, 6-7(6), 4-6 in the semi-finals last year.
At start of the season, the British reached the final of the Australian Open. However, the Brit fell in a grand slam title match for the third time, getting thrashed by Djokovic in straight sets 4-6, 2-6, 3-6. Disappointed after the Australian Open final result, Murray entered a bad patch as he lost three consecutive matches to lower ranked players. After that, the Brit reached semi-finals at three of the next four tournaments including the French Open which is his least favourite grand slam.
Murray had the perfect lead up to the championships as he won pre-Wimbledon tournament at the AEGON Championships in London, beating in-form Tsonga in the title match. The Brit was confident after grabbing the warm event that he could win the title at SW19 this time. He said, after his triumph over Tsonga, “I am going to Wimbledon with the feeling that I can win the tournament. I don't think you can go there with any other attitude. I'll need to play my best tennis throughout the tournament to do that, but I'll be switched on for the first match and I'm really looking forward to the next five days in which I can get ready.”
Murray was on course for making history at this year’s championship as he steered past his first five opponents. The Brit downed former world number 3 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in four sets in the third round. The six feet and three inches tall outplayed inform Richard Gasquet and Feliciano Lopez in straight sets in the fourth round and quarterfinals respectively. However, for the second successive year, Murray was unable to overcome the challenge of Nadal as he lost to the Spaniard in four sets 7-5, 2-6, 2-6, 4-6 in the semi-finals.
The series continues in http://www.senore.com/Who-could-have-won-Wimbledon-2011-Roger-Federer-Part-3-a80543.
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