Marvelous Murray Makes Mountaintop

Written by: Staff on 11th September 2012

Marvelous Murray Makes Mountaintop |

It was 3 A.M. in Scotland when native son Andy Murray won the U.S. Open in a marathon 5-set match. And yet, despite the hour, bagpipes were probably playing through the night. And in London it’s likely Kate Middleton and Prince William, and tens of millions of Brits stayed up until sunrise. After all, it had been a mere 76 years since a British male tennis player had won a Grand Slam tournament. That’s not a drought, that’s a wasteland.

Well, the wait is over. (Long live the Queen and long live Andy!) And the weight on Andy Murray’s shoulders has been lifted. In his fifth Slam final, Murray finally tasted victory (and $2 million) and, judging from the near tears in his eyes, it looked extremely sweet.

With his mother Judy, his girlfriend, Kim, and even Sean Connery, Mr. 007 himself, cheering on, Andy Murray outlasted defending champion Novak Djokovic, in a high quality final that equaled the longest in Open history and will surely go down as one for the ages. Connery, the 82-year-old Academy winning legend, looked quite dapper wearing a U.S. Open straw hat as he watched from the president’s box overlooking center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Point after point, Connery clapped for his countryman, yelled encouragement and gave the occasional fist-pump. He even stopped by the locker room after the match to congratulate Murray and predicted, “At least six more”, for the young Scot.

But perhaps the most important set of eyes looking on during the match was Murray’s coach since only January, the inscrutable Ivan Lendl. The 8-time Grand Slam winner (3 U.S. Opens, a tournament in which he was a finalist a record 8 straight years) was an enormous help to Murray despite his dour demeanor. As Andy said in the trophy presentation ceremony, “I think Ivan smiled but I’m not sure.” Even with instant replay, it wasn’t certain it was a smile or indigestion. But there’s no doubting Lendl’s positive influence.

Throughout the fortnight Lendl’s eyes squinted through sunglasses, his baseball cap tugged down to hide his face from the sun. Lendl’s granite Czech jaw rested on the upturned palm of his left hand as he silently encouraged the often emotional Murray to remain calm. And it worked to perfection.

In the 5^th set, Murray was up 3-0 and two breaks when Djokovic broke back at love. The stadium crowd sensed, and even Murray admitted after the match, that a comeback was in the offing. But Lendl remained stoic and supportive.

Lendl seems the ideal coach for Murray, the four-time Slam runner-up. Ironically, Lendl lost his first four Slam finals before breaking through. He went on to achieve a Hall of Fame career that included 270 weeks at #1, still the third longest in the Open Era.

And coaching Murray seems to offer a golden chance to Lendl. (Who says he loves coaching Andy but adds candidly that he “hates being on the road.”) Often sullen throughout his career, Lendl was never adored by the crowds or his peers. It’s possible his place in tennis history suffered as a result of his less-than-outgoing personality.

For example, before the finals, Lendl reportedly said to reporters, “I don’t like New York but if Andy wins I’ll come out to celebrate!” (Talk about party not so hearty.) As runner-up Murray’s tears at the 2012 Wimbledon, humanized him for the masses, it’s likely that Murray’s youthful enthusiasm, may improve Lendl’s image with the tennis public.

Even Lendl said he “admired Andy’s guts in hiring me.” Nine months ago, his experience as a coach extended to teaching three of his five daughters to play golf. Now he would seem the favorite for Coach of the Year, after Andy has become the first British man to win a major since Fred Perry claimed the US Open championship in 1936.

The match itself couldn’t have been closer. Deep into the 5^th set, each man had won 153 points. Murray had a two-love set lead (both tiebreakers) when Djokovic rallied to win sets three and four. Murray admitted that at this point he wasn’t sure how he was going to hold on. Perhaps before Lendl he might not have.

Curiously, especially coming from Lendl, his pre-match instructions were for Andy to “have fun”. Lendl insists, “It’s a lot of fun. You feel nervous, obviously. If you didn’t feel nervous you’d think there was something wrong. But you have to enjoy being nervous because it’s a privilege. Once you start enjoying it, that’s when you can play well.”

Despite their similarities, there are obvious differences between the 25-year-old Murray, addicted to video games and fantasy football, and the 52-year-old Lendl whose passion is golf. “He enjoys Manhattan, I know that,” Lendl says of Murray. “I don’t. I’m staying out in the country. I will be happy to go to Manhattan for the victory celebration. Other than that, forget it.”

However successful the partnership, it’s still not clear who approached whom, although it would hardly seem to matter. “I think he is ready to go and win,” Lendl said. “I think the lesson he learned from the Wimbledon final (Murray lost to Federer) was a tough one but he put it to good use in the final of the Olympics. (Murray beat Federer.) Andy asks a lot of questions. The more he asks, the happier I am. It shows he wants to learn.”

Of the last thirty Slams in men’s tennis, twenty-nine were won by Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. The lone exception was in 2009 when Juan Martin Del Potro won the U.S. Open. In a classic and riveting five-set match on Monday that figure just doubled.

It’s perhaps ironic that this year’s Open marked the farewell of Andy Roddick who was in 5 Slam finals and won only one. The difference between “the Andy’s” was that Roddick won his initial visit to a Major championship and lost the next four. Murray lost his first four and now is on top of the world.

Few sporting careers as Andy Murray’s have carried such heavy baggage as the hopes of an entire nation. And now, with a single win over Novak Djokovic, Murray has replaced decades of pain and frustration with unbridled joy. In fact, there’s no telling how long the bagpipes will keep playing.

Final Score: Djokovic vs Murray 6/7, 5/7, 6/2, 6/3, 2/6

(An avid tennis fan, Jack Neworth writes a humor column every Friday in the Santa Monica Daily Press at www.smdp.com. He is also the co-author of “Men in White”, a screenplay about tennis legend Pancho Gonzalez and his rollercoaster forty-five-year friendship with fellow HOF player Pancho Segura. Jack can be reached at jnsmdp@aol.com)

Topics: Andy Murray, Ivan Lendl, Novak Djokovic, Sports, Tennis News, US Open 2012