ANDY MURRAY TRIUMPHS AT WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIP TWICE! SORRY MILOS RAONIC, BUT FRED PERRY IS SMILING DOWN FROM THE BIG GRASS COURT IN THE SKY

Written by: Staff on 10th July 2016

ANDY MURRAY TRIUMPHS AT WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIP TWICE! SORRY MILOS RAONIC, BUT FRED PERRY IS SMILING DOWN FROM THE BIG GRASS COURT IN THE SKY

epa05418769 Andy Murray of Britain kisses the championship trophy following his win over Milos Raonic of Canada in the men's singles final of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 10 July 2016. EPA/ANDY RAIN EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO COMMERCIAL SALES |

By Ricky Dimon

First it was Serena Williams who finished runner-up at the Australian Open and French Open before getting over the final hurdle and triumphing at Wimbledon. Andy Murray, also second best in Melbourne and Paris, followed suit on Sunday afternoon at the All-England Club. Murray lifted the winner’s trophy for the second time in his career by beating Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in two hours and 48 minutes.

“Last time it was just pure relief, and I didn’t really enjoy the moment as much,” the world No. 2 explained, “whereas I’m going to make sure I enjoy this one more.”

Not too surprisingly, a single break of serve decided the opening set of this one. It came when Murray, who had failed to convert a break-point opportunity at 1-1, capitalized on his third chance of the match thanks to a netted forehand volley off the Raonic racket at 3-3, 30-40.

Raonic almost fell into a massive hole right away in the second set, but he saved one break point when Murray dumped a forehand in the net and managed to hold. The Canadian fought off two more break points at 4-4, both thanks to noticeably tight errors by Murray.

After turning in a Herculean effort just to force a tiebreaker, Raonic threw it all away with the set on the line. He butchered a short volley on his first service point and soon found himself facing deficits of 3-0 and 6-1. At 6-3, Murray came up with a second serve off the line that his opponent could not handle.

“I was keeping up with him,” Raonic reflected, “but then when it counted, I wasn’t able to get on top.”

The story was a similar one in three, with the underdog clinging to life support en route to another tiebreaker before Murray seized complete control. The Scot pocketed an immediate mini-break for 2-0 with a backhand pass and struck again for 3-0 when Raonic shanked a forehand. Murray soon built leads of 5-0 and 6-1 before converting his second championship point by forcing Raonic into a backhand error.

Milos Raonic of Canada returns to Andy Murray of Britain in the men’s singles final of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 10 July 2016. EPA/GERRY PENNY

“I don’t really think so,” the world No. 6 responded when asked if playing in his first Grand Slam final was overwhelming. “I think it was more… you know you’re not going to play your best tennis by any means. You sort of have to dig it out. That’s pretty much the thing you’re fighting against the most, trying to find the level that’s good enough.”

Rarely has Murray’s level been good enough in major finals, as he had previously been 2-9 lifetime in such situations. A big reason, of course, for such a futile record was that each of Murray’s first 11 slam finals came against either Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic. With two of the greatest players ever out of the way, it was once again Murray’s time in London.

“I don’t mind failing,” Murray said. “Failing’s okay, [provided] that you’ve given your best and put everything into it…. I put myself in a position all of the time in these events to win them; haven’t won them all of the time. I’ve lost a lot of close ones against great players most of the time.

“I wasn’t really thinking too much about the previous matches that I played against anyone. I just saw this more as an opportunity to try and win another Wimbledon title.”

Mission: accomplished.