Milos Raonic knocked out Roger Federer on his way to the Wimbledon final and had been crashing down serves at more than 140mph.
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The 56-year-old coach initially joked that his watery eyes were due to an “allergy” before acknowledging that his efforts over the past month since he returned to the camp – helping Murray go 12 matches unbeaten on grass – had eventually caught up with him.
Murray, who ended 77 years of British waiting for a men’s singles champion when he won his first Wimbledon in 2013, beat Canadian Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) for his second title here Sunday.
“I had my best claycourt season”.
Stat of the Day: 8 – Aces for Raonic, who entered the final averaging 25½ per match in the tournament.
Thousands of fans are expected to pour through the Wimbledon gates to watch the action, many of whom have queued for days to get a grounds pass or one of around 500 tickets available for Court One.
Not only did the 6-foot-5 Raonic repeatedly top 140 miles per hour in that match, he went as high as 144 miles per hour a couple of times, and his average first serve of 129 miles per hour was faster than Federer’s best offering of 126 miles per hour. Whereas last time it was just pure relief, and I didn’t really enjoy the moment as much, whereas I’m going to make sure I enjoy this one more than the others.
Both players’ refusal to give up even the slightest chance of making a return was a noticeable feature of the match, and some of the Raonic smashes Murray was able to track down were particularly impressive.
McEnroe said: “You’ve got to hand it to Murray that he keeps stepping up, and sooner or later that percentage is going to greatly improve”. “I tried coming forward, putting pressure on him”.
The Scot said he felt “happier” and “more content” than he had done when defeating Djokovic here three years ago and planned to savour this triumph more for himself than his whirlwind victory in 2013. He was more effective there.
“I was keeping up with him”. I’ve got lots of confidence at the moment. “There’s not one thing that I’m not going to try to improve”. I have an opportunity to win more.
Raonic is renowned as the king of the tie-break yet Murray demolished him in the second and third set shoot-outs.
Murray also took 50 of 65 points he served across the first two sets, not only never facing so much as a break point in that span but only once being taken to deuce. But at 5-4, 0-15, a sloppy backhand slice found the net, quashing the brief momentum. Murray followed with a backhand passing shot and a 117mph serve victor to hold.
“Obviously it does come down a lot of the time to a few important points”, he said. But when I wake up tomorrow morning, it will be a bit different. The only other Canadian, man or woman, to get to a major final was Eugenie Bouchard, the women’s runner-up at Wimbledon in 2014.
He didn’t need to face either of those rivals this fortnight: 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.
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“I don’t mind failing. It’s great. I could tell he was very emotional at the end and the way he was holding the trophy, it was like, “you’re not taking that away from me”. “But the guys I’ve been playing against have won lots – a lot of people say the best three players [Djokovic, Federer and Rafa Nadal] of all time potentially”. I showed guts. I showed vigour.
