Tuesday 24 July 2012

Wimbledon and the Making of Champions by David Hammerton


Wimbledon and the Making of Champions

9 Jul 2012 Sport London Student

Written by David Hammerton



Sunday July 8 was an historic date in the sporting calendar. Wimbledon men’s singles witnessed the first British player to reach the final since Fred Perry in 1934, whilst his opponent, a 16 time Grand Slam winner was on a bid to win a seventh Wimbledon title. Historically only two players, William Renshaw and Pete Sampras, have achieved this milestone.

Murray took the lead initially, winning the first set 6-4 in 57 minutes. Both players showed, in this set, why they deserved to be in the final. Murray managed to break Federer in the first game, only for the Swiss star to mount a mini-comeback. Murray kept his nerve to seal his first set in a grand slam final, winning 6-4.
In the second set Federer came back, winning 7-5 after Murray had looked close to breaking on several occasions. Whilst Murray was playing some amazing tennis and in spite of the high number of unforced errors by Federer, the latter got better and better and took the third set 6-3.

By the fourth and final set, it was clear that the irresistible Federer was going to be unstoppable once more in his bid for a 17th Grand Slam title. He soon wrapped up victory with Murray looking increasingly fatigued, if not dispirited.

His victory puts him on a par with Pete Sampras for a total of 287 weeks as number 1 in the world.
This was not the first time that Murray has come this close to winning a Grand Slam trophy only to be halted at the same stage. Twice by Federer at the 2008 US Open and the 2010 Australian Open then by Djokovic at the 2011 Australian Open. Murray has made significant progress with the guidance of Ivan Lendl and it is difficult to imagine that within the next couple of years that much coveted grand slam will continue to evade him.

The limelight, for the moment, remains with Federer.