Wimbledon wait to continue for Andy Murray and Britain?
It was four years ago when Andy Murray attracted the ire of the English with a throwaway line to a journalist that he’d been supporting “anyone but England" in the World Cup finals, before the backlash spurred him to issue an apology on his website stating, in part, that “I'm not anti-English!”
Those comments may have got the English offside back in 2006, but in truth, the Scot has struggled to win public affection in Britain even as he’s matured into one of the world’s top players in the years since.
A Wimbledon title would surely go a long way towards changing that, but whether the world No. 4 can in 2010 break a men’s Grand-Slam title drought for Britain that’s lasted since 1936 is doubtful.
As has been the case for the 23-year-old’s entire career, there’s the not insignificant hurdles of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to overcome. It’s more likely than not that if Murray, or any player outside the top two, is to win the Wimbledon title, they’ll need to defeat both the world No. 1 and defending champion at the All England Club.
For two straight years at the French Open, Robin Soderling has showed just how tough that task actually is: defeating Nadal in 2009 before losing to Federer in the final, then defeating Federer in the quarter-finals this year, before he was defeated by Nadal in the final.
It’s no wonder only two players – Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro – have won Grand Slam titles since Federer and Nadal began their duopoly with the latter’s maiden French Open title in 2005.
If Murray’s going to be the third one to do it, there’s also the issue of form and while there’s been marked improvement after the lows of consecutive opening-round losses at the Masters 1000 tournaments in Miami and Monte-Carlo, since losing the Australian Open final to Federer at the start of the year, Murray hasn’t even hinted at Grand-Slam title winning form.
The dual Grand Slam runner-up can feel justifiably slighted at the decision – made without his consultation – to suspend play due to poor light in his third-round match against Mardy Fish at the Aegon Championships last week when he’d gained the momentum in the match, which he ultimately lost.
But a more composed Murray might have put that behind him and won the games required when play resumed the next day. He didn’t, and his title defence and a chance at more match practice in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it grass-court season slipped away.
Last year, Murray entered Wimbledon as the Queen’s Club champion, and with Nadal nursing knee tendinitis and out of the competition, he had perhaps his best chance yet of providing the All England Club with a long-awaited British champion. The result was his best performance at Wimbledon, when he reached the semi-finals, where Andy Roddick ended his run.
Twelve months on and Nadal’s back; Roddick’s as hungry as ever; Federer’s ready to defend yet another Grand Slam title; and Murray’s not managed to come close to matching his 2009 form in the months since the Australian Open.
The wait for a Wimbledon title for both Murray and Britain looks set to continue.
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