Oh Gawd, here comes history. As if trying to win your first grand slam title were not hard enough (particularly when you are facing your old mate and the form horse of the tournament, Novak Djokovic, in the final) poor Andy Murray also has the history of British tennis to contend with. For those unfamiliar with the subject, the past 75 years have not been great for the Poms. Once upon a time, Britain was quite good at this tennis lark but then in 1936 Fred Perry decided that he really needed to make a living, turned professional and no Briton has won a grand slam since.
The Great British tennis-watching public has been sitting patiently since dear old Fred’s day, chewing its fingers down to the knuckles, waiting for someone to come along and win a pot that matters and now, at last, in Murray, they have a real contender. This is his third major final and maybe, just maybe, this might be third time lucky. A nation waits. A nation hopes. A nation does not know what to do with itself it is so nervous. If the nerves of 60 million people back home are stretched to breaking point, how one earth can Murray stand the strain? Surely it cannot be easy.
“It was until you brought it up,” Murray said, giving his interrogator a fierce look. He did not mean it, mind you - he knows all the regulars in the British press corps and he does like to pull their legs. “First of all, it’s more like a personal dream or a personal goal of mine. So that’s really what you need to sort of keep in check and not let yourself get ahead of yourself. The historical thing, it’s not something that I’ve thought about that much, but it’s something that obviously for me personally I want to try and win.
“But I also don’t want to sort of get myself so amped up that I play a stinker of a match. I think you can go in thinking like, Yeah, no one’s won for 75 years, I might never get another chance. I’m going to make the most of the opportunity, for sure. I’ll give 110%. But I also need to make sure I’m relaxed and calm on the court. I don’t want to get myself sort of too worked up.”
Scotland’s finest certainly had to get himself worked up in order to beat David Ferrer 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, 7-6 in the semifinal. The fleet-footed Spaniard had Murray on the ropes for the best part of two hours as he ran and scrambled and scurried to within a point of a two-set lead. No matter where Murray put the ball, there was Ferrer waiting to retrieve it - it was enough to drive the world No.5 to distraction. But, as the veteran of two previous grand slam finals, Murray knew that he could only control the point in front of him. He had to be enclosed in his own little world and not worry about the Energiser Bunny on the other side of the net. That proved to be the making of him as he faced that set point in the second set.
“I thought it was 4‑3 in the second set and it wasn’t until the umpire called 5‑5 that I realised that, yeah, I just saved a set point,” Murray said, still looking a little embarrassed. “I was obviously a bit surprised. But you need to sort of get back into focusing. It was quite a big stage of the match. So, you know, it hadn’t really happened to me that often before. But sometimes when you’re in the match, you sort of get in a bubble, in a zone. Normally you know exactly what the score is, but tonight I obviously didn’t.”
Blissfully unaware of his predicament, the nerveless Murray went for a thumping serve, snatched back what he merely thought was a break point, and 18 minutes later, had grabbed the second set from Ferrer’s flapping racquet. From there, the confidence began to flow back into the Scot’s game and he was on his way to the final. Even Ferrer’s spirited fight back in the fourth set could not distract him - Murray was on a roll and monopolising the final tiebreak (Ferrer has now lost 11 consecutive tiebreakers in Melbourne), he was home and dry.
When Sunday rolls around, it could mark the beginning of a new era. For the past four years both Murray and Djokovic have been waiting their turn to centre stage in a major final, drumming their fingers on the locker room table as they waited for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to give them a go. Now the two friends have their chance - they are one week apart in age, two places apart in the rankings and they are regular practice partners. And they could be rivals for years to come. So when someone suggested that it might be bad for the game that the world Nos 1 and 2 had already gone home, Murray was unimpressed.
“It’s better for me if I’m in the final,” he said, stating the blindingly obvious. “From a personal point of view, I would rather be in the final than be watching Roger and Rafa at home playing again.”
As for history, that can wait. If Murray can keep himself in his little bubble until the final point on Sunday evening, history can take care of itself.
