All 10 of Murray’s previous grand slam finals were against either Djokovic or Federer, which explains why the 29-year-old Scot has endured more than his fair share of pain and still only has two majors to his name.
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Raonic slammed down a serve at 147mph on Sunday, the fastest in this year’s tournament, but his most destructive weapon never intimidated Murray. I guess the tournaments start to mean more to you the older you get and you start to appreciate the history of the events probably more.
Andy Murray takes on Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon Men’s singles final on Sunday, start time at 9:00 AM ET / 2:00 PM local time, at Centre Court.
“I kept hold of it for as long as I could but now they have taken it away”. “I sort of went into my shell, didn’t put myself out there enough. Hopefully I’ll come out firing”.
“To do it twice here, an event where there is a lot of pressure on me to perform well, I’m very proud”. That’s what really motivates me.
“Milos is a very tough opponent”.
But the Canadian is showing he can compete with one of the game’s best ever. “So he deserves to be there”. The sixth-seeded Raonic eliminated Federer in five sets in the semifinals Friday, and also defeated the player who stunned Djokovic in the third round, Sam Querrey.
The pair split in March 2014, but it was with Lendl by his side that Murray won his two Grand Slam titles – the US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013 – and Murray said the 56-year-old, a victor of eight Slams between 1984 and 1990, offers important experience of major events. That’s making a huge difference.
Murray was even asked by a reporter during Wimbledon how it felt being Britain’s “last hope”, a question he dismissed by wryly replying, “It’s not that bad, is it?” “I think he has all the tools to make it all the way”, said the Czech.
What McEnroe did for Raonic was get him to be more emotional, which certainly wasn’t a problem for McEnroe when he played.
“It’s been incredibly hard not to think about it (Graf’s record)”, a smiling Williams, cheered on by celebrity couple Beyonce and Jay Z as well as sister Venus in her support box, said on court as she clutched the Venus Rosewater Dish. That’s the way it is, it’s the terms we came to.
“Any Canadian players, we support all the way”, she said.
Since then, he’s followed Laver, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Lendl, Jim Courier, Djokovic and Federer as only the eighth man in the open era to reach the season’s first three major finals.
“Ivan knows more about winning majors than 95% of people involved in tennis”.
“Beforehand, in the build-up to a Slam final, I’d always just be thinking about the match”.
Murray has won his last five matches against Raonic, but there have been close calls: in the Australian Open semifinals in January, Raonic led two-sets-to-one before he suffered an adductor injury which Murray took advantage of to win in five sets. “Can you get me a seat on Henman Hill if I can’t get on Centre Court?” he said.
He said: “I was still as nervous as I was before the other grand slam finals”. A lot of adrenaline, all this stuff takes over and you keep fighting through. I think that’s it.
“Andy is one of the premier workaholics”.
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The Montenegro-born powerhouse said: “I think the biggest challenge for me, which I felt was the thing I want to happen the least, or repeat itself the least from Queen’s, is I got sucked into his game”. He’ll try to throw you off, give you some slower balls, some harder balls, all these kinds of things.
