• Wimbledon 2016: Murray beats Raonic 6-4, 7-6, 7-6
• Murray claims third grand slam title of career in style
As Andy Murray
headed for the champion’s dinner at the Guildhall for the second time,
three years after his first, he finally had time to properly savour the
unique joy of owning not only the Wimbledon title, but the love of a
nation, as well as his family.
With his wife, Kim, by his side, and his mother and father not far
behind, Murray might also have spared a thought en route for his
brother, Jamie, who had flown to Belgrade earlier with the Great Britain
Davis Cup team in preparation for the quarter-final against Serbia
later in the week. He hopes to join him shortly and then look ahead to
retaining his gold medal at the Rio Olympics in August, as well as
mounting a challenge with Jamie for the doubles title there. On a warm
summer’s evening, life could hardly be better.
For now, though, the glow of victory gave him a more immediate rush. He had comprehensively beaten Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2)
in two hours and 48 minutes, and Centre Court belonged to him. The
applause that greeted his victory was as prolonged as his tearful
celebration, his head buried in his towel as he shuddered
uncontrollably.
After composing himself, he would tell the BBC’s Sue Barker: “I’ve
had some great moments here and some tough losses, and I’m proud to have
my hands on the trophy again. I played really good stuff today. Milos
has had a great few weeks on the grass. He’s one of the harder workers
out there. And a huge thank you to everyone who came out to support me.
The prime minister’s here as well. Playing in a Wimbledon
final is tough, but I wouldn’t want to be prime minister. It’s an
impossible job.” Looking towards Lendl, he joked. “He’s just lucky.” The
best coach he has ever had smiled back.
Lendl was there, too, when Murray beat Novak Djokovic in three sets in 2013,
when the Scot was riding on a bank of hope and adrenalin; after doing
the same to Raonic even more convincingly, he had delivered on
expectation, an altogether different pressure. But, as ever, he was up
for it. The nerves of three years ago were nowhere in evidence. His
shots bristled with purpose and confidence. He moved, injury free now,
as if he were playing in his own back garden. Twelve unforced errors and
29 clean winners over three sets told a story of chilling efficiency.
It might be cruel to regard Raonic as robotic and Murray as an
emotional volcano, but there are elements of truth in both descriptions,
and they were amply justified in an absorbing final.
It was no mystery that the young Canadian would use his power to try
to bludgeon the Scot, on serve and with his wicked ground strokes. Nor
did it come as a surprise that Murray not only anticipated each assault
but had an answer for most of them.
Raonic later insisted, against all available evidence, that he did a
better job this time than in his loss in the Queen’s Club final of “not
getting sucked in” to playing Murray’s game. In nearly every exchange of
consequence, Murray drew him on to the punch then jabbed short, sharp
winners down either wing, especially across him with the backhand as
Raonic drifted towards the net.
It
was the key manoeuvre of the final. Its predictability did not dull its
effectiveness. At Queen’s Club three Sundays ago, he struggled a little
against Raonic’s raw energy in the first set of the final, which he
lost, before figuring out how to break him down, moving him laterally at
will by the end and closing out the third set 6-3 to win a record fifth title there and establish a platform for his progress here.
The process of decoding Raonic’s tennis began a lot earlier in this
final than it did during the one at Queen’s. It was as if he were
picking up at Wimbledon where he had left off then. By the end, he was
stroking the ball with such confidence there seemed no way the younger
man could stay with him, even in an all-out hitting competition. Murray
had conquered him in all departments.
He almost matched him for aces, going down 8-7. But he did that by
defusing Raonic’s serve, the weapon a lot of good critics had
understandably predicted would cause Murray the most problems.
Ultimately, that was not the case. In his six previous matches, Raonic
had compiled a staggering 138 aces, 25 more than the next best, John
Isner. Murray went into the final with a relatively modest 51. Here,
Murray put a rose in his gun barrel.
Raonic hardly played badly. He was just not allowed to play his best
and most dangerous tennis. While the match was not filled with many
spectacular moments, one stands out for its audacity, and it
demonstrated why Murray is regarded as perhaps second only to Djokovic
as a returner of big serves.
Standing on the baseline at 30-all in the ninth game of the second
set, Murray somehow batted back a 147mph cannon ball – by three miles an
hour the fastest serve of the tournament – to leave Raonic non-plussed.
It was an extraordinary shot.
Elsewhere,
Murray went about his work methodically and with iron discipline. There
were a few loose strokes under pressure but not many and not when it
really mattered. He gave Raonic only two break points in the whole match
and the sixth seed could not take either of them.
It was on the counter that Murray hurt him most often. As Raonic
stuck to his strategy – presumably on the advice of his new part-time
adviser, John McEnroe – of moving with menace towards the net at every
available opportunity, Murray passed him with increasing ease. He
eschewed the lob, mainly because he wanted his opponent to reach to
either wing in those exchanges, testing both his stamina, his suspect
footwork and his commitment to what became his only attacking ploy,
however doomed.
If there is a style that Murray likes to conquer, it is one that
makes the most demands on his impeccable defensive tennis, and the sight
of Raonic growing large at the net brought a glint to his eye. For all
that he can be a prisoner of his emotions, this is what brings steel to
his talent: a challenge, a puzzle to solve.
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