Fred Perry had it easier than Andy Murray. When Perry won Wimbledon in 1936, there was no long-running debate about what was wrong with British tennis or pent-up public doubts about his own capacity to close the deal. Perry already had won Wimbledon the previous two years and had no one of Roger Federer’s talents to cope with in the final.
The British have been searching and waiting ever since for Perry’s successor, for the man who could win the grass-court tournament that is not just a sporting event but a cultural pillar in this island nation.
Murray, a 25-year-old Scotsman with a droll baritone voice and a terrific backhand, is now just one match away after defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets in the Wimbledon semifinals on Friday.
“The roof is going to blow off this thing if Murray wins on Sunday,” said Mark Woodforde, the former Wimbledon doubles champion from Australia, standing outside Centre Court, the most famous stadium in tennis.
But Murray’s final step certainly looks like the highest step. To join Perry, Murray will have to beat Federer, already a six-time Wimbledon champion, who needs to beat Murray to regain the No. 1 ranking.
“It’s a great challenge, one where I’m probably not expected to win the match, but one that, you know, if I play well, I’m capable of winning,” Murray said. “But, yeah, if you look at his record here over the past 10 years or so, it’s incredible. So the pressure that I would be feeling if it was against somebody else, I guess it would be different. But there will be less on me on Sunday, you know, because of who he is.”
No British man has managed to advance even this far at Wimbledon since 1938 when Henry Austin, better known as Bunny, reached the singles final, and there were already scenes and sounds of patriotic delight on Friday as the Centre Court crowd roared on Murray and waved British and Scottish flags.
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