No British player has ever reached 11 grand slam finals before, with Murray surpassing the record he jointly held with Fred Perry.
Advertisement
Roger Federer of Switzerland falls over during his men’s semifinal singles match against Milos Raonic of Canada on day twelve of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Saturday, July 9, 2016.
Speaking to The Sun, Murray said there was no tension between the players anymore.
“I remember when I played Jack Sock in the third round, John messaged me and said, “Hey, they want me to call your match”. Really?! while getting broken to drop the fourth set. “Unexplainable for me, really”, Federer said.
“But you never know how anyone’s going to deal with the pressures of a slam final”.
“I’m glad I managed to get through today”. “Hopefully, it will be even bigger if I win on Sunday”.
He will now look to stage a repeat of the 2013 final when, a year after tearfully losing to Federer, Murray defeated Djokovic to end Perry’s 77-year reign as the last home men’s singles champion.
“I didn’t play on my terms”.
“He’s playing the best grass court tennis of his career”.
Too many erratic forehands from the Czech meant Murray could keep his very best shots in the locker for the final, capitalising instead on a string of errors to navigate his way safely through.
He has also failed to add to his 88 tour titles this year, suffering his longest drought since 2000, and arrived at Wimbledon having suffered back-to-back semi-final losses in Stuttgart and Halle.
Two years ago, Federer got past Raonic in straight sets in the Wimbledon semifinals.
The 29-year-old has won each of his last five matches against the younger Canadian – who beat Roger Federer in five sets earlier on Friday – and will be heavy favourite to secure his third Grand Slam title – and second at SW19.
A flat atmosphere livened up when Murray flirted with danger at 2-3 in the second set, brilliantly saving two break points.
The Scot’s frustration was clear as he sat down on his chair and he found himself embroiled in his own lengthy service game.
The sixth-seeded Canadian converted the only break point of the set in the fourth game on Centre Court.
Raonic’s hard serve and aggressive play seemed to overpower Federer early, but the 34-year-old stayed the course and dominated the second-set tiebreaker to gain momentum.
With Centre Court roaring him on, Murray broke the tiring Berdych for 3-1 and quickly turned that into a two-game lead before serving out the win.
The grip Murray had on the match gave the occasion an oddly low-key feel but Berdych could do nothing to generate jitters, missing with his forehand time and again.
Advertisement
The contest appeared to be heading for a fourth set tiebreak as Federer moved to 40-0 in the 12th game but two days after the Swiss boldly stated that “my second serve has always been there for me…it never lets me down”- guess what?
