Seventy-seven years after the MP’s son from Stockport won the last of his three All England Club titles, Britain finally has another Wimbledon men’s singles champion. Andy Murray, for so long the standard-bearer for his country, achieved one of his lifetime ambitions and ended the nation’s tortuous wait for a home winner when he claimed the trophy here on Sunday amid scenes of raucous celebration on Centre Court.
Twelve months after suffering one of the greatest disappointments of his career when he lost to Roger Federer in his first Wimbledon final, Murray returned to beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 after three hours and nine minutes of pulsating drama. The lessons learned from last year, plus the confidence he derived from his subsequent Olympic and US Open triumphs, were all evident as Murray swept aside the world No 1 with a superbly focused display of attacking tennis.
“Winning Wimbledon, yeah, I still can’t believe it,” Murray said in his post-final press conference. “I can’t get my head around that. I can’t believe it.”
In front of a crowd full of famous faces, ranging from David Cameron through to Wayne Rooney, and two Wimbledon legends in Rod Laver and Roy Emerson, Murray confirmed what a supreme master of grass-court tennis he has become. This was his 18th victory in a row on the sport’s most challenging surface and was achieved on the hottest day of the tournament, with the temperature approaching 30C.
“It was so hot,” Murray said. “I hadn’t played any matches in the heat of the day. Since I missed the French Open with my back, it had been cool. I hadn’t played at all in those sort of conditions. The first few games were brutal as well. The first four games took 30 minutes, so it was an incredibly demanding match physically.”
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