The Federer-Murray saga
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 08: Roger Federer of Switzerland in action during his Gentlemen
Two Months ago, Federer was struggling to find his feet. Age is fast catching up with the maestro (or so people believed). Nadal and Djokovic were competing in almost every ATP final. Murray was still trying to cope with the immense pressure that he has been carrying on his shoulders for a while now. After three Grand slam final appearances and three rather comfortable losses, the future looked bleak for Murray and Federer. Nadal was getting stronger, Djokovic fitter, Federer older and Murray frustrated. All we could predict was another year dominated by Nadal and Nole, little did we know about the surprises and shocks that were in store for all the Tennis fans.
Today, having won his 7th Wimbledon(17 grand slam in all) by defeating Andy Murray in a gripping and emotional final at Centre Court, Federer has suddenly become the favourite at the Olympics. It was more so because the venue for the Olympics is Federer’s happy hunting ground – ‘All England Lawn Tennis club’. Moreover, his recent Wimbledon triumph has inspired the 30 year old as well as his fans to dream GOLD. Murray on the other hand had to perform the tougher task of getting over the emotional defeat on Centre Court, move on, focus hard and yet again walk onto the court with the expectations of the entire country riding on him. Two months before not a single PRACTICAL Tennis fan, would have predicted Federer and Murray to compete for the Wimbledon title and the Olympics gold, let alone one of these tournaments.
But the tables are turned in favour of those who hadn’t had much success for the past two years. Federer and Murray are all set for the Gold medal match having won their respective semi-finals. Federer played an epic three setter against the hard hitting Del Potro winning the third set 19-17. It was one topsy-turvy match with Del Potro taking the first set easily 6-3, but Federer rallied in the second to take it 7-6 in the tiebreaker. If the spectators felt that Federer was back in his groove and would cruise to victory in the third, Del Potro had other thoughts. He kept hitting those lusty forehands with his wrists in front (weird action to some extent). Federer broke him at 9-9 but couldn’t serve out the match. In the end, after almost 4 and a half hours of gruelling tennis and crisp groundstrokes Federer prevailed.
Murray went into the semi final with the favourite tag. Motivation and crowd support can work wonders for you, it can help you to raise your game and fight your way through the ugliest of days. When you have the entire crowd behind you, you tend to feel invincible. It gives you the zest, the adrenaline pump to destroy your opponent at any stake. His run to the Wimbledon final would have also given him the edge over Novak and he did not fail to impress. Murray won in straight sets, breaking Djokovic at crucial junctures winning it 7-5 7-5. The match was evenly matched, but Murray played the big points better. I guess you can safely say now that he is turning into ‘Grand slam champion material’. The last few months have been amazing for him, and we have seen a new Murray with a new found passion for the game and a new found hunger to succeed.
Sunday’s final promises to be one cracker of a match. Not much has changed over the past three weeks. Although Federer has looked a bit rusty he has got loads of ‘Big match’ experience. Meanwhile Murray would be itching to avenge the Wimbledon final loss by claiming the Gold for Great Britain. For many Tennis lovers this would not have been the dream final but for the two players concerned, their dreams are just about to come true. One of them would win the singles Olympic Gold for the first time.