THRILLED TO BRITS!
But fans still don’t like me says Murray
TWO-TIME Wimbledon champion Andy Murray claims there are still sports fans in this country who DON’T like him.
And he reckons they’ll be delighted Jo Konta is through to the women’s quarter-finals – because it gives them a Brit to support. It was Britain 2, France 0 with Konta
(left) beating Caroline Garcia in three sets and Murray easing past Benoit Paire to ensure two home players in the last eight for the first time since 1973.
Murray may be ‘King of Centre Court’ but the world No.1 believes he’s a big
ANDY MURRAY wrote his name in the history books a long time ago.
But with every passing Wimbledon, Britain’s greatest-ever player continues to notch up the records.
Only tennis legends Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors have matched his achievement in reaching the last eight of a Grand Slam for 10 successive years.
And in beating Benoit Paire 7-6 6-4 6-4, Murray maintained his remarkable ascendancy over Gallic opposition.
This was his 26th successive win over a Frenchman, and you have to go back to 2008 for his last defeat to a player from across the English Channel in a major – when he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Australian Open.
Struggled
But this was not Murray le Magnifique. He may have declared himself happy enough with his own performance but future opponents are unlikely to rack up the mistakes so readily as Paire.
With boxing heroes David Haye and Carl Froch watching from the Royal Box, the Brit often had him on the ropes but struggled to deliver the knockout blow.
The world No.46 doesn’t so much blow hot and cold as fire and ice. More than 50 winners flew off his racquet but they were accompanied by 44 unforced errors, five times as many as Murray.
His game was a curious concoction of the sublime, the ridiculous and the downright awful. Paire was as likely to outwit Murray with the deftest drop shot as to slam a horrible forehand feet past the baseline.
It made for a contest which twisted and turned, with the road ahead only becoming clear towards the very end.
Murray won few easy points on serve and that will be a concern against better men than Paire.
But as he showed in the third round against Fabio Fognini, sheer bloodymindedness and willpower often dig him out of tough situations.
The Scot opened in listless fashion, being broken twice to trail 4-2 before fighting his way back into the set.
He carved out set points at 6-5 but was unable to convert either. Then Paire imploded in the tie-break, gifting Murray an early lead with poor shots from which there was no way back.
The second set was another roller-coaster. Murray had the early advantage but played a horrible sixth game to let the 28-year-old back into it.
He then broke to love to lead 5-4 and, in the contest’s decisive game, saved four break points before stretching his lead with his first set point.
There was no way back for the man who just about kept his temper in check despite torturing himself with his inconsistency.
Murray will tomorrow play American Sam Querrey for a place in the semi-finals after the man who knocked out Novak Djokovic 12 months ago edged a five-set thriller against Kevin Anderson.
After four unorthodox opponents who write their own rule books, Querrey is a more conventional player.
But he’s also significantly better than Murray’s victims so far. The Brit will have to up his game.