Andy Murray celebrates at match point as he defeats Milos Raonic in the Men’s Singles Final at Wimbledon.
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After Britain famously endured a 77-year wait between Wimbledon men’s champions, Andy Murray has given the host country a pair of titles in quick succession. The members of the women’s final four, including a renaissance from 36-year-old Venus Williams, averaged 31 years, 9 months – the oldest at any Grand Slam tournament in the Open era, which began almost a half-century ago.
But if he does well he can contend with Novak Djokovic for the top spot in the ranking.
He committed a miserly 12 unforced errors, blunted the 140mph first serves whizzing his way and even reduced the normally Zen-like Raonic to venting his frustration. I think it can give you a bit of confidence. I served really well out there. “I’ve had some great moments here, but also some tough losses. I’ve had some great moments here and some tough loses and the wins feel so much better for those tough loses”.
“I’m also aware of how hard these competitions are to win once. It can help to go through games and stages in matches that are challenging”, said Murray, who recently reunited with Ivan Lendl, his coach when he won his two major trophies.
He said: “I was still as nervous as I was before the other grand slam finals”.
“He’s very honest with me”.
On Centre Court, a partisan crowd rattled the rafters with a roar of appreciation for their hero Murray, standing together to cheer and applaud his brilliance after he claimed his third Grand Slam with victory over Raonic. Those things are going to be what I got to face off against. “But I put myself in a position all of the time in these events to win them”.
“The last three months have been some of the best tennis I have played”.
Raonic would claw his way back, but down 6-2, he could only fire a backhand into the net, handing Murray the Wimbledon title.
“Phenomenal” was how he described his two weeks at SW19. “I don’t always like hearing it, but it is often what I need to hear”.
The Wimbledon trophy is Murray’s third Grand Slam. I’ll be back here for a second chance.
“I’m happy”, Raonic said, “that I have another shot at him”. He was lucky to get away with a poor, sliced approach at 15-40 but on the next point a similar approach was punished by Murray.
“There were opportunities for Andy to explode today and he didn’t”, Pat Cash, who beat Lendl in the 1987 final, told CNN.
“He was so solid off the ground, he was really strong on serve and I just felt confident that he was going to get the job done”. I feel more content. I feel like this was more for myself more than anything, and my team as well.
“Obviously it does come down a lot of the time to a few important points”, he said. Some come in their early 20s, some mid-20s – hopefully mine is still to come. “Hopefully mine is still to come”.
The Thornhill, Ont., product lost in straight sets to Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final Sunday in the first major singles championship match to feature a Canadian man.
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At age 25, Raonic was looking to become the youngest Wimbledon champion since Djokovic won in 2011 at age 24. I was keeping up with him. I think there is a lot of work still to be done on that. I’m not going to leave any stone unturned.
