Sixth seed Raonic beat the great Roger Federer in a five-set classic at the All England Club on Friday to reach his first grand slam final before Murray saw off Tomas Berdych in straight sets. Raonic made Federer feel his age as the Canadian bombarded him with a succession of 140 miles per hour missiles to flatten the seven-times champ and reach his first grand slam final.
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No British player has ever reached 11 grand slam finals before, with Murray surpassing the record he jointly held with Fred Perry.
As statement of intents go, this was an ominous warning that Murray is in no mood to lose his third Slam final of the year, after defeats at the Australian and French Open.
Andy Murray stormed into his third Wimbledon final as the Scot crushed Berdych 6-3 6-3 6-3 to set up a title showdown with Milos Raonic. But Murray’s all-around game is the reason why he’s the No. 2 ranked player in the world behind Djokovic.
In his previous major finals the Scot has always lined up against either Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic, with their combined 29 titles.
Federer fell just short of an 85th match win at Wimbledon, which would have put him in sole possession of the record of 84 he now shares with Jimmy Connors. “That’s going to be the most important thing for me”.
“And that’s why I’m definitely going to be looking forward to it”.
“We played in the finals of Queens a few weeks ago and I told him I hope to get a rematch in a few Sundays”.
“I obviously wanted to work with Ivan again to try to help me win these events”, said Murray.
That fearsome resilience under extreme pressure was evident as he came from behind to beat seven-time Wimbledon champ Federer. “It’s against someone new that I’m playing against in the final”, Murray said.
He added: “Milos is a very intelligent guy. So he deserves to be there”.
Andy Murray insists he will not underestimate Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon men’s singles final, but believes he could benefit from the Canadian entering uncharted territory. To get to play in front of a home crowd in a grand slam final is very, very rare. “I’ve got one more to go on Sunday”, Murray said. “There weren’t many complications”.
Persistence, positivity, and a Zen-like focus carried Raonic past Federer.
“Right now it’s a bit of frustration as well and really the feeling it’s, you know, the fact that I was still far [from winning], but it was the semi-final”.
“There’s no guarantees that I win on Sunday, obviously”. There are going to be dips in a best-of-five-set match but you can not completely lose your concentration. I didn’t give up too many errors.
With post-Brexit turmoil engulfing the nation’s political landscape, sterling plummeting and England’s soccer team licking its wounds after a Euro 2016 humiliation, old faithful Murray provided some cheer by reaching a third Wimbledon final on Friday.
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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”.
