It was all going so well.
BRITISH Andy Murray was playing faultless Tennis as he cruised in the Quarter-Finals of Wimbledon, his “home” tournament and the setting for his historic Championship win 12 months ago, not dropping a set and making it look worryingly easy. Could this be history? Could Andy Murray retain his Wimbledon title and all but guarantee a Knighthood, statue and all sorts of awards and recognition befitting that of a deity?
Well, no. SCOTTISH Andy Murray was brushed aside by rising Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets, hardly ever looking like he would progress. I put the emphasis on British and Scottish because, for those of you not acquainted with the British press, a non-English sportsman competing either for England or Great Britain switches between British and whatever his birth country may be (in Andy’s case Scotland), according to his success at that time. Therefore Murray has been firmly British ever since his Wimbledon win, but a defeat as crushing as this will most likely make him Scottish again.
Where did it all go wrong? Murray seemed too good for all in his path but suddenly the 11th seed was too good for him. Perhaps he never was ready to defend his title. He’d had such little preparation time after his valiant French Open Semi-Final defeat-he remained British as he is never expected to perform at all on clay-and it showed after his First Round exit from Queen’s: a Wimbledon warm-up event, where he lost to veteran Radek Stepanek. The same happened to French Open champion Rafael Nadal; another early casualty at this year’s Wimbledon as he lost to German-Jamaican Dustin Brown.
In the buildup to the 2013 US Open I remember Pat Cash making an excellent point about Andy Murray’s chances at those Championships. Andy Murray had just won Wimbledon, the first Briton to do so in over 70 years. Metaphorically speaking, Murray had climbed Everest in his triumph. He could not, therefore, be expected to climb Everest once again and win the US Open. He simply was not ready to win back-to-back slams.
Going into this edition of Wimbledon Murray was in a similar position. Getting to the Semi-Finals of Roland Garros was a monumental achievement for Murray because he is nowhere near as good on Clay as he is on Grass and Hard Court. Murray himself has underlined his ambitions of reaching a French Open final in the future and that could well happen if he improves and plays as well as he did a few months ago, but he would expend a hell of a lot of energy in doing so, as he did a few months ago. Getting to the Semi-Final of his weakest major was something of a mountain in itself, and therefore Murray, who is only learning how to climb these mountains that the true greats have to scale, could not be expected to win this particular Slam.
Going into Queen’s and for that reason Wimbledon Murray was exhausted, unprepared and under the usual pressure a British tennis player will always have. He was fortunate to have a relatively easy draw but the moment a real challenge in the form of a high seeded player was to come along it was always going to be a struggle.
Murray should not dwell on this defeat-it is unlikely he will-and move onto New York: the US Open. Murray won his first major there in 2012 and he would be unfortunate never to win there again and what better way to quell fears of a regression by winning the damn thing in September? Since Murray will play no further part in this Wimbledon tournament he will have an extra few days rest before moving onto Hard Court. The coaching issue remains, supposedly Mauresmo was only meant to be around for the Grass season, and perhaps Murray will have to wait for Australia and maybe even later to revitalise his assault on every Championship going, but Murray has shown some excellent form this year and a promising lack of injury (touch a very large amount of wood), and it would be a perfect end to a not so perfect 2014 Grand Slam season if he were to win in New York again.
Murray does not necessarily have that long left at the top. In this century only Roger Federer and Andre Agassi (twice) have managed to win a major at the age of thirty or above. It would be a real shame if Murray were unable to add to his two majors before the end of his career and he should aim to win at least two or three more before retiring a hero. John McEnroe expects Murray to win at least six and if he were to win, for example, another Wimbledon, two more US Open titles and an Australian Open surely he could be added to a list of the greats? If Murray were to head into the 2015 Australian Open with a third major under his belt who would bet against him winning consecutive Grand Slams for the first time in his career?
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