TENNIS
ANDY LOSS IS A CRYING SHAME
PUTTING ON A BRAVE FACE: Murray struggles to hold back the tears
By Neil Squires
FOLLOWING two Grand Slam finals and two comprehensive losses, the uncomfortable question being asked at the Rod Laver Arena last night was whether, in Andy Murray, Britain really does have the new Tim Henman.
Murray carried off the role of plucky-but-not-quite-good enough Brit to perfection as he was strangled with a silk scarf by the gentleman assassin Roger Federer at the Australian Open final.
The perception will be, as it was of his predecessor as the great white hope of British tennis, that Murray may be cut
from the same cloth – a nearly man destined to tease but ultimately disappoint those hoping he will end the 74-year wait for the next Fred Perry.
After another straight-sets defeat in a Grand Slam final, it must have felt like he is banging away at a locked door.
The frustration poured out as he tried and failed – through the unusual method of holding his nose – to choke back the tears at the presentation ceremony.
But beyond the torment lies a bigger picture which depicts a career on an upward curve destined, ultimately, to meet its moment of glory.
Murray has already surpassed Henman in reaching two Grand Slam finals – Tiger Tim never managed better than a semifinal – and he is still only 22.
Compared to his knock-kneed display in going down to Federer in the 2008 US Open final, this was a much more combative performance.
It was certainly no choke; it was just his misfortune to run into the greatest tennis player who ever walked this planet.
Federer said: “This was one of my finest performances for a long time – maybe ever.
“`I am being pushed a great deal by the new generation coming up, so I have to thank guys like Murray who are making me play better.
“I always knew I had something special but I didn’t know it was this crazy.
“It’s not an easy thing to win your first Grand Slam. The next one is not going to get any easier for him but his game is so good that I am convinced he will win one. He is a wonderful mover and tactician and he has everything you need to beat the best.”
Murray has proved it with six victories over Federer in his short career already, but something happens to the world
No1 when tennis’s big days dawn. In Melbourne, under a half-closed roof because of the threat of rain, Federer was as relentless as the Yarra River here in winning his 16th Grand Slam title. Relentlessly breathtaking.
“His level is a lot more consistent in the Slams – maybe in other tournaments he tries a few more things out,” said Murray. If there is a more graceful sight in tennis than Federer rising to his toes like a ballerina to dispatch another fizzing forehand, his racket an extension of his right arm, it remains well hidden. It is sport made art.
Yet even the greatest are human, and Federer offered a handful of opportunities in their two hours and 41 minutes
on court which Murray had to grasp if he was to have a chance.
The most glaring was the set point he blew in the gripping third-set tiebreak by whipping a mid-court forehand into the net. It was one of five which went begging in the set, but gold-plated as the only one on his own serve.
Federer needed three match points to clinch his title, which arrived when Murray netted his favoured backhand to give him the tiebreak 13-11.
Murray asserted afterwards his biggest regret was in failing to throw the kitchen sink at a break point on offer at 2-2 in the first set, an innate conservatism which held him back throughout the match.
He had already broken Federer once at that stage but having allowed him to escape from that cul-de-sac, Murray surrendered his stuttering serve in the eighth game and subsequently the vital first set 6-3.
The second ebbed away 6-4 as Federer continued to earn the rewards for his risk-taking, but even though Murray
reversed the momentum by racing into a 5-2 lead in the third, he was reeled in by some irresistible tennis.
The agony of the tiebreak only made the frustration of failure at the end worse.
While Federer stayed dry-eyed and composed for once in victory, Murray could barely hold it together in defeat.
He has proved easy to admire but harder to love during his rise into the elite, partly because of a demeanour which can be as cold as an Antarctic night hike.
His version of Paul Gascoigne’s Italia 90 weepy – Muzza’s tears – showed his human side and might win him more fans but he would gladly swap the popularity for a Grand Slam title.
As he said afterwards: “I can cry like Roger; it’s just a shame I can’t play like him.” Patience may be needed.
Federer’s talent and ambition show no sign of waning. But he is 28 and not even legends can defeat the march of time.
