World No2 Murray’s second Wimbledon title, earned with a straight-sets win over Canada’s Milos Raonic on Sunday, reduced Djokovic’s lead in the rankings from 8,035 points to 4,845 points.
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This was Murray’s 11th grand slam final and unlike the other ten where he faced either Federer or Djokovic, Murray was the favourite and he seemed to relish the role as he ignored the magnitude of the match to claim a successive sixth win over Raonic.
The Scot did not reach another final for 18 months after his Wimbledon triumph in 2013, spending four months on the sidelines after undergoing back surgery.
“Novak is still clearly No1 in the world right now, he is not just going to go away because he has had one bad tournament”, he said.
Murray ends his grass season with a flawless 12-0 record after also winning the tune-up Queen’s event – beating Raonic in west London by coming from a set and 0-3 down.
“This the most important tournament for me every year”.
I feel like my best tennis is ahead of me, that I have an opportunity to win more Grand Slams. “I’d rather set the bar as high as possible and not quite achieve it”.
“I would love to now go on and get to number one in the rankings but it will be incredibly hard as Novak’s consistency has been unbelievable”, Murray wrote in his column for BBC.
“I obviously would have loved to have won more [grand slams]”. Milos Raonic managed to save set point once, but dropped the first set to Murray, as the Scot came up with a 40-15 win in the tenth game. “Playing at a Wimbledon final is tough and I certainly wouldn’t want to be prime minister, it’s a tough job”, he said before disappearing into the plush corridors of Center Court to be greeted by well-wishers including Prince William and Hollywood actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
“I think the last three months, since Monte-Carlo, have been some of the best I’ve played in terms of consistency. I know that he will come back strong from this because of the player he is”. And it was telling that while Raonic delivered the joint-second fastest serve in Wimbledon history on Sunday, coming in at 147mph, Murray not only returned it but also went on to win the point.
The British No 1 admitted he felt more relief than happiness when he won the same title three years ago and seemed determined to enjoy the occasion on Monday morning – grinning widely as he received a round of applause from those watching.
“I don’t believe him but that’s what he said”.
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Murray’s focus now switches to helping Great Britain to defend their Davis Cup title, with the team facing Serbia in a quarter-final tie in Belgrade this week. After a long two weeks the celebrations included attending the players’ ball and going out for drinks with family and friends, Murray added.
