Andy Murray Is Wimbledon Champion

Written by: Staff on 8th July 2013

Andy Murray Is Wimbledon Champion

epa03780717 A picture made available on 08 July 2013 of British Andy Murray posing with the trophy at the Wimbledons Champions Dinner after winning the Wimbledon Championships in London, Britain, 07 July 2013. EPA/ROBERT MARTIN / POOL |

After ending the 77 years wait for a home grown men’s Wimbledon champion that had been both humiliating and frustrating for British sports, Andy Murray celebrated his victory by claiming his achievement the ‘pinnacle of tennis’.

According to the score line Sunday’s final against world no.1 Novak Djokovic may have appeared a fundamental straight sets victory for the 26-year-old Scot but both Murray and his Serbian opponent, also beaten in last September’s US Open final, described the 6-4 7-5 6-4 battle that lasted three hours and 10 minutes as ‘brutal’.

Murray wandered around Centre Court in a state of shock for several minutes after his win and even at the Champion’s Dinner in central London, nearly seven hours later, he maintained: “Winning Wimbledon, I can’t get my head around that. I still can’t believe it’s happened. I think that last game will be the toughest I’ll play in my career.”

Murray squandered three championship points from 40-0 and saw off three Djokovic break points before the top seed and 2011 champion hit a backhand into the net to end a grueling contest played in temperatures topping 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

After losing last year’s Wimbledon final from an apparently strong position against Roger Federer, Murray won the Olympic gold medal on the All England Club’s turf and followed up with the US Open title but he maintained: “Winning Wimbledon is the pinnacle of tennis and the last game almost increased that feeling.

“I know how I felt a year ago and although I’m not really sure how I feel now, this is so, so much better.”

Like his coach Ivan Lendl, Murray had to withstand the disappointment of losing the first four Grand Slam finals he contested but maintained perseverance in the face of being under pressure for being the standard bearer of British tennis had been tough.

“For the last four or five years it’s been very stressful with a lot of pressure,” he said. “The last two days were not easy because it’s just everywhere you go.

“It’s so hard to avoid everything because of how big this event is but also because of the history and no Brit having won for so long. It’s been very, very difficult.”

In the end it came down to a nail-biting final game when Murray seemed to be cruising to victory, registering three match points before Djokovic fought his way back and established two break points himself. Finally Murray won on a fourth match point when Djokovic netted.

“That last game pretty much took everything out of me and I couldn’t even tell you what happened with the points after I got to 40-love but I know I worked so hard and they will be the hardest few points I have to play in my life,” said Murray.

“Some of the shots Novak came up with were unbelievable and I didn’t know what was going on. There were a lot of different emotions at that time.”

Murray, Scotland’s first Wimbledon singles champion since Harold Mahony in 1896 despite the New York Times online edition running a headline declaring it was a great victory for England, maintained he wanted to share his victory with coach Lendl who was twice a beaten finalist at the All England Club and ended up failing to complete his set of major titles with the grass court crown.

Lendl is seen as the man who has succeeded in pushing to that extra level since taking over as coach 18 months ago and the new champion said: “Ivan stuck by me through some tough losses and he’s been very patient with me, I’m just happy for him.

“He’s always been very honest with me and told me exactly what he thought and in tennis that’s not easy to do in a player/coach relationship. He’s got my mentality slightly different going into matches.”

The match was played on the hottest day of the year in London and one court-side thermometer read 40C (104F). “It was so tough, it was so hot as well. I hadn’t played any matches in the heat of the day,” said Murray.

“Since the clay-court season, since I missed the French Open with my back, it had been cool. I hadn’t played at all in those sort of conditions. The first few games were brutal as well. It was 30 minutes for the first four games.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Andy Murray, British tennis news, Novak Djokovic, Sports, Tennis News, Wimbledon Championships