MURRAY BASKS IN WIMBLEDON WIN
Second title more for him, his team
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND After an agonizing wait for his first title, Andy Murray’s second Wimbledon title came with less stress and more joy.
Murray, who ended 77 years of British waiting for a men’s singles champion when he won his first Wimbledon title in 2013, beat Canadian Milos Raonic 6- 4, 7- 6 ( 7- 3), 7- 6 ( 7- 2) for his second title here Sunday.
Without such a heavy weight of history and national expectation on his shoulders this time, Murray said he was able to enjoy the second win more.
“I feel happier this time,” Murray said. “I feel, yeah, more content this time. I feel like this was sort of more for myself more than anything, and my team as well. We’ve all worked really hard to help get me in this position.
“Last time it was just pure relief, and I didn’t really enjoy the moment as much, whereas I’m going to make sure I enjoy this one more than the others.”
Murray had been 2- 8 in his previous 10 major finals, but all those had been contested against either Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer. Against Raonic, Murray
was a favorite in a major final for the first time and seized the chance.
“I don’t mind failing,” Murray said of his past losses. “Failing is OK, providing that you’ve given your best and put everything into it. Obviously a lot of questions would get asked of me after those losses. But failing’s not terrible. I put myself in a position all of the time in these events to win them. Haven’t won them all the time. I’ve lost a lot of close ones against great players most of the time.”
Raonic, who was playing in his first major final, saw his weakness in returning exposed by Murray’s effective serving tactics. Raonic was able to earn break points in only one of Murray’s 17 service games and could not convert.
Murray, not known for his serving prowess, was the more effective server of the two, with a higher percentage of unreturned serves ( 34% to 26%) and a much larger amount of first- serve points won ( 87% to 67%).
“I was hitting the ball clean from the back of the court, so I wasn’t leaving too many short balls for him to sort of dictate points,” Murray said. “As soon as I was in control of the rallies, there wasn’t many rallies where I sort of gave up that control. I was moving the ball around well.”
The match was won, though, in the two tiebreaks, where Murray was able to pull away quickly. He won his first point on Raonic’s serve each time and never looked back, winning both comfortably.
“It was just in the tight situations — I think I maybe dealt with them a little bit better because I’ve had more experience of these matches and these situations,” Murray said.
When Murray closed out the tournament on his second championship point, he celebrated with air- punching exuberance.
“Andy’s been playing great, and he deserves to be winning here for a second time,” Raonic said during the trophy ceremony. “Congratulations to Andy. This one’s gonna sting, so I’m gonna make sure, as these courts are green, that I do everything to be back here for another chance.”