Can Murray's maiden Grand Slam inspire Rohit Sharma?

With Sean Connery seated in Arthur Ash Stadium, in a final which provided all the thrills of watching a James Bond Movie, at last Andy Murray was able to free himself by having the monkey removed off his back when he prevailed over world No.2 Novak Djokovic to win his maiden Grand Slam title.

Before the start of this year’s Wimbledon, I was one of those pessimists who optimistically believed that Murray was not going to enjoy a Grand Slam success in his career. He looked all set to give company to Tim Henman as every Grand Slam went by. As he was pitted against some of the toughest players in his half at Wimbledon this year, I felt fate was pre-written for him. I was of the opinion that he had a herculean task ahead for reaching even the semifinals. But he left critics like me astonished. He got into the finals of Wimbledon only to be beaten by the eventual champion Federer after taking the first set.

He cried buckets during the presentation. However, he marched on. His draw in the Olympics was no different from that of Wimbledon. Playing in the same Center court where he lost a month before, he took revenge for his Wimbledon loss by demolishing Roger Federer in straight sets, much to the amusement of all British fans. It was then that my perception of Murray began to tilt in his favour. I am sure many of those fans who doubted his abilities were left shell-shocked after seeing his authoritative progress to win a Olympic gold medal on grass.

Though he had to withdraw from Toronto Masters midway owing to the condition of his physical health, he made himself available for the season’s last Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows. Like the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”, he took a sturdy stance and played in a totally uncompromising manner and laboured his way to the final where he had to meet the defending champion Novak Djokovic. The first set which took 80 minutes to complete ended in Murray’s favour after a sea-saw battle in the tie breaker. He also pocketed the second set by breaking the Serb in the twelfth game, winning it 7-5. Murray came closer than ever to winning his first Grand Slam title and everyone in his box, barring the ever subdued Ivan Lendl, went berserk.

Little did they realise he was up against a man who went on to win the semifinals in the last two years in succession after fighting match points against the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer. The fighter in Djokovic stormed back. After a forehand volley winner at the nets which helped him to hold on to his serve, the World No.2 announced his belongingness in the match by the excitement-filled yelling motivation which he is very much famous for, looking at his “support group.”

The third set went in Nole’s favour 6-3 and he also sealed the fourth one 6-2. The fifth set became “the winner takes all.” Murray broke Nole, who was serving forward in the first game of the fifth set and broke him again surging ahead 3-0 immediately. Novak somehow got one of those breaks back but it was never going to be enough because he was still a break down. The Scot broke him for the third time and held his serve the next game thereby sealing the match, capturing his first ever Grand Slam title. The ordeal which was haunting him for years together has finally vanished. A Grand Slam victory which was eluding him so long has now become his.

It was always believed by tennis fans around the world that Andy had the requisite game to add a Grand Slam title against his name. Living under the shadows of the big three in tennis had never been easy for him. He had been unlucky four times not to have won a major title, after reaching the finals. Just by the nature of the game he plays, he is no different from Nadal, except that the Spaniard hits the forehand with a lot more top spin. Infact Murray’s backhand is much better than that of the person who he just displaced to 4th position in ATP rankings. Also, the Scot was not in any way inferior to Djokovic. The fact was that he did not have the belief to get hold of the ultimate prize money. However, now he did what was expected of him and as a result we, more than him, are supremely confident that he is going to get more Grand Slam victories in the years to come. The British No.1 has given this belief to us.

What we derived out of Andy’s victory is just a satisfaction which will be there for a couple or more days and then it will disappear. But there is a player in the world of cricket, if he goes through all the trials and tribulations what Murray had gone through, would actually stand to benefit more from it. I am talking about Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma.

Talent wise he is one of the best in the game. One can just stand admiring the quality of shots he is able to produce. He has one of the best techniques in the game plus his shots look so graceful and admirable. He was viewed upon as a successor of Sachin Tendulkar in the future. He has everything in his armory which could make him one of the greats in the game. But, the saddest part is he is never able to produce the type of genius in spite of being a batsman of star quality. In the recently concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka, he was able to score only 15 runs, playing in five matches. When we were hopeful of seeing some breathtaking performances from him, he disappointed us. I cannot but imagine how a batsman of such potential could fail repeatedly despite getting numerous chances to represent India.

Some fine tuning perhaps needs to be done to his temperament and someone should instill in him the faith which he definitely lacks. Can he get a Lendl for him in cricket who can work on his game, making it incisive? But that is far fetching to even think of it right now. Rohit Sharma has himself only to be blamed for his under- performance. It is time now for him to correct whatever has happened. He has to show to the selectors how good he is by performing to his potential in domestic cricket. He is just 24 years old and still there is time left for him to prove his worth. He can really take a leaf out of the book of Andy Murray who also faced a similar situation due to the Grand Slam drought for so many years. When a player has a talent, whatever sports he plays, he will deliver the goods. When Andy can do it, why not Rohit?

When Yuvraj Singh could get inspiration from Louis Armstrong while battling cancer, there is no reason why Rohit should not get inspired by Murray who won a Grand Slam title after years of tireless efforts. If only he tries doing it (again he should have belief in his own self, like I said), he would be having a long journey with the Indian team.