Murray triumphs in historic Wimbledon win

Andy Murray ended Britain’s agonising 77-year wait for a Wimbledon men’s singles champion when he destroyed world number one Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in the blistering heat of the All England Club.

The 26-year-old on Sunday became the country’s first male winner since Fred Perry in 1936, the year the Spanish Civil War started, Jesse Owens defied Hitler at the Berlin Olympics and Gone With The Wind was published.

“The last sort of 30 minutes have been a bit of a blur really. From 4-2 down in the third set to now, I don’t know. I don’t really know what to say just now,” said Murray in his post-match press conference.

 “That last game will probably be the toughest game I’ll play in my career, ever.

“This one will take a little while to sink in, I’m sure”.

There had been incredible pressure on Murray going into the final of his home Grand Slam, a tournament that he has been trying to win for the last five years – and got agonisingly close to last year against Roger Federer.

“It’s hard.  It’s really hard.  You know, for the last four or five years, it’s been very, very tough, very stressful, a lot of pressure. The few days before the tournament, really difficult, as well.”

 “I think now it will become easier.  I hope it will.  I hope it will.”

Murray dominance

It was Murray’s second Grand Slam title to follow his breakthrough triumph at the US Open in 2012 which followed his Olympic gold medal.

However, Sunday’s title showdown, between two men who have now contested three of the last four Grand Slam finals, rarely lived up to expectations.

Both struggled in the stifling 40-degree heat and the top-seeded Serb, who had beaten Murray in the Australian Open final in January, looked jaded after his record four hour 43-minute semi-final victory over Juan Martin del Potro.

And despite leads of 4-1 in the second set and 4-2 in the third, he was out-hit by Murray who finished with 36 winners to 31, with 21 unforced errors to the Serb’s 40 and having carved out 17 break points.

Inside a baking Centre Court, and watched by Victoria Beckham, Wayne Rooney as well as Hollywood stars Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper, the first point of the match was a punishing 20 strokes.

A break in the second game of the third set gave Murray a 2-0 lead before Djokovic, having discarded the hat, raced away with the next four games for a 4-2 lead.

But Murray reclaimed the break in the seventh game and levelled in the eighth with a running, curled forehand off a Djokovic drop. It was almost over.

Djokovic, in his 11th Grand Slam final, was broken for 4-5 before the British star, with the crowd on their feet, wasted three match points.

He finally achieved his place in history when Djokovic netted a backhand after three hours and nine minutes of action.

Cheered on by thousands of noisy fans both inside and outside of Centre Court, Murray held the trophy up to British tennis fans who had been waiting so long for this moment. 

“I’ve been saying it all week, but the fans do make a difference. It really helps when the crowd’s like that, the atmosphere is like that.  Especially in a match as tough as that one where it’s extremely hot, brutal, long rallies, tough games, they help you get through it.”