A sixth dose of Andymonium
Whisper it quietly, but Andy Murray could win Wimbledon this year.
Yes yes, I know. The hype over a potential British winner of the title after a long, agonising wait is about to reach its annual climax but even someone as normally cautious as I am about Murray’s chances cannot help but get caught up in the hysteria.
Murray's year? photo: dailymail.co.uk
I believe this despite the fact that this year’s tournament is being considered the hardest to win in a long time. Ahead of Murray there are three clear favourites: Roger Federer, as a six-time Wimbledon champion, is the bookmaker’s choice, Rafael Nadal is last year’s winner and you’ve also got Novak Djokovic playing the best tennis of his career with six titles and a 41-1 record to his name this season.
But there have been glimmers of hope in a few of Murray’s performances this year that suggest that he could be on the brink of something special. His ruthless thrashing of Andy Roddick in the Queen’s club semi-final was impressive and he followed it up with a gutsy three set victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to become the first British man to win the tournament for a second time since 1925.
At Roland Garros he played through the pain barrier to secure a fantastic comeback win in the fourth round against Viktor Troicki and then went on to secure a place in the semi-finals there for the first time. At the Rome Masters he surprised many by very nearly inflicting a first defeat of the season on Djokovic as he served for the match in the final set.
The crushing disappointment of his defeat in the Australian Open final had a huge effect on his early season results and for two months Murray struggled for form. Consecutive defeats against players ranked outside the top 100 at the Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami had fans fearing the worst.
However, a solid display in the clay court season seems to have rejuvenated Murray and it looks as if he’s ready to hit top gear just in time for the showpiece event of the tennis calendar. The pressure is building as a nation once again pins its hope on him but he seems to be taking it all in his stride and saying the right things to the media.
As many pundits talk about the huge burden of expectation that the home favourites face Murray has admitted that he actually relishes playing front of a home crowd. He told the BBC today: “In every other sport having home advantage is seen as a good thing. For some reason in tennis people think that there’s just so much extra pressure and it just isn’t the case.”
A semi-final berth is certainly within his grasp and from there, who knows?
Murray though will not be taking any early round victories for granted, especially given the difficulty of his quarter of the draw.
In fact, it is rather ominous how many former conquerors of him in grand slams that he has in his part of the draw. Marin Cilic, who thrashed the Scot at the US Open in 2009, is seeded to meet Murray in the third round, a potential fourth round opponent is 14th seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Murray in the 2010 US Open, and in the quarter-finals he is likely to meet Andy Roddick, who shocked Murray with a four set victory in the 2009 Wimbledon semi-finals.
While Murray’s recent good form has got me believing that this could be his year, I think the smart money is still on Novak Djokovic, who at 4/1 third favourite seems like incredible value.
Novak Djokovic: the next Wimbledon champion? photo ndtv.com
In Federer and Nadal we have possibly the two greatest players of all time, but this season Novak Djokovic has done the unthinkable and emerged as the tour’s standout player. The manner in which he has defeated Nadal in four consecutive finals leads me to believe that he is ready to take the next step and capture his first Wimbledon title.
Nadal, Federer, Murray and the other 124 players in the draw will surely disagree with that assessment and be out to prove their own credentials. Whichever way the pendulum swings, we are surely in for another fantastic Wimbledon fortnight.
