Tennis Atlantic

Wimbledone for Magic Murray, Bryans Celebrate Golden Slam

Andy Murray became the first British male to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936 with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 victory over rival Novak Djokovic in the predicted All-England club men’s singles final.

Murray came out on Centre Court to a raucous crowd and started positive, generating a batch of break points for himself but failing to convert until the 3rd game. Djokovic broke back immediately, though, and began to find his game as they rallied back and forth on the withered grass. Murray would seize the moment in the first set and eventually take it, rolling into the 2nd with Murray Mountain beckoning.

In the 2nd set, Djokovic cleaned up his baseline errors and got a break, but Murray, as he did all tournament, wouldn’t fold the set mentally. He hung in there and rode out the Serbian wave, eventually getting it back to even at 5-all, and winning the final 2 games to take a 2 set lead, reminiscent of their US Open final last year. Djokovic was flustered by the fact that he ran out of challenges in the 2nd, and at one point yelled at the chair umpire.

In the 3rd set, Murray broke at the start, and it looked as if he might cruise to victory, but Djokovic wouldn’t make it easy, resorting to drop shots and out-maneuvering the Scotsman as they were sucking wind by the time the 3rd set began. Djokovic would stretch his lead to 4-2, but Murray again rode out his momentum and persevered, winning the final 4 games, including the biggest game of all. An estimated 1 in 3 residents of the UK were watching as he rolled to a 40-0 lead behind his serve, but Djokovic gave it one last push, pushing back to deuce, and then getting multiple break points in the best game of the match.

Murray snatched them away and aced away Djokovic to the Roar of Nations, giving himself a 2nd slam and a first Wimbledon. He also Improved his h2h to 8-11 against Djoker and 2-0 on grass.

Honestly, the quality of the tennis wasn’t special, and Djokovic did not play near his best, but Murray proved his mettle. As I saw throughout the week, he was just a much calmer, more focused and tenacious player. As a long time fan who has been been through all the heartbreaks, including the Wimbledon  final last year, I feel rewarded and extremely pleased. Tennis is an amazing sport and Magic Murray epitomizes the wonder and allure of the sport at its highest level.

Not to forget his other Week 2 matches, he beat an inconsistent Mikhail Youzhny in straights, clawed back from 2 sets down against a rejuvenated Fernando Verdasco and beat a talented but still inexperienced Jerzy Janowicz in 4 sets. The Pole acquitted himself well and beat his countryman Lukasz Kubot in an emotional match for Polish tennis to reach the semis

Djokovic didn’t drop a set against Tommy Haas and Tomas Berdych, but needed 5 sets against a pre-wrist injury form Juan Martin Del Potro to make the final in what many consider the match of the tournament. Del Po beat David Ferrer handily to make the semis.

In the doubles, the Bryans beat Ivan Dodig and Marcel Melo in 4 sets to capture the remarkable Golden Slam (all 4 slams at once and Olympic Gold). They have to be the undisputed greatest doubles team ever at this point, at 35 they still dominate the sport.

—Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com