Pushed to speak about the grasscourt slam, he stressed that he was “in the game to play tennis”.
Advertisement
At 25, he’s the youngest Wimbledon finalist since Murray reached the title match in 2012 at the same age.
How that matchup plays out in the Wimbledon final Sunday could go a long way toward determining who wins the championship.
“It gives actually a bit of extra confidence”, said Murray, reuniting with Lendl, “because I know last time we worked together, it was very successful”. He’s faced only 27 break points, saving 22.
Raonic’s serve is speedy and scary, to be sure – British Davis Cup captain Leon Smith called it “ginormous” – but it is also much more than that.
Since the moment world No 2 Andy Murray brought back Ivan Lendl to his coaching staff, many stepped out and said that move by the Briton was a good one. There’s not many players that get the opportunity to do that.
Don’t count on that happening too often against Murray.
Murray took the opening set after a break of serve in the seventh game but was taken to a tiebreak in the second – winning it comfortably as he raised his game.
“It’s been a phenomenal two weeks, and before that at Queen’s as well”.
“I’m not trying to put him in a box… and have him be an objective observer of the match and wear two hats”, said Jamie Reynolds, an ESPN vice president overseeing coverage of the tennis tournament. “I showed a lot of emotion out there, always positive, and I think that’s what got me through”.
The big-serving Canadian powerhouse beat Federer in five sets earlier on Friday to reach his first grand slam final and will pose a significant threat if his 140mph delivery is firing.
But Murray aimed a cheeky dig at the notoriously taciturn Czech, who barely flashed a smile despite his player’s victory.
“It’s great to sort of be at the center and front of that come Sunday”.
But in a warning to the Scot, Raonic tweeted his followers yesterday: “I am by no means done yet”.
And while the finals of both of those matches kept fans guessing right until the end, this time round there was no such drama as the Scot delivered an immacualte performance against his Canadian opponent. And after a hiatus, they have reunited. That’s what I’m definitely going to be looking forward to it. There was a significant point for me coming back from two sets to love in the fourth round. “When you’re 18, 19, you’re probably not as aware about those things”, Murray said.
“There’s no guarantees that I’ll win on Sunday but obviously I wanted to work with Ivan again to try to help me win these events”.
Advertisement
The seven-time victor, Roger Federer, who had never lost in 10 previous semi-final clashes at SW19, held a comprehensive head-to-head advantage ahead of a dramatic thriller on Centre Court, but ultimately could not keep-up the Pace and threw away his 2-1 lead to suffer a 3-2 defeat against the Canadian.
