He entered his second Grand Slam final striving to be the first British man since 1936 to win a major. Or, as his conqueror Roger Federer put it, the first man in “150,000 years”. The weight on Andy Murray’s shoulders must be incredible, but in going down to Federer in straight sets in Sunday’s final, Murray says he is grateful for the feverish support from home.
“[It’s] obviously nice. Once you get on the court, it’s not what you’re thinking about at all,” the Scot said after the 6-3 6-4 7-6(11) loss in the final of Australian Open 2010.
“I would have liked to have done it for everyone back home, you know, won the tournament. Obviously for myself and for the people I work with as well.
“But it wasn’t to be.”
Murray was hardly disgraced at Rod Laver Arena against Federer. The Swiss maestro added a 16th Grand Slam title to his trophy cabinet, and reaffirmed his status as arguably the greatest man to ever pick up a racquet. The two had met before at this stage of a major, the 2008 US Open, where Federer swept aside Britain’s great hope with ease. Murray held set points in the epic third set tie-break on Sunday, but sent an easy forehand into the net before the No.1 edged ahead to take the set, the match and, with it, the championship.
In playing career-best tennis to reach the final, Murray loomed as the only person capable of stopping the Federer juggernaut. He was two sets to the good of 2009 champion Rafael Nadal in their quarter-final before the Spaniard retired, and showed his often outrageous talents in crushing the giant-killing Marin Cilic in the semi-finals, playing two of the shots of the tournament in his four-set win. He can certainly hold his head high, and even in the immediate aftermath of his defeat in the decider, Murray admitted he was proud of his efforts.
“Getting to a second Slam final, it's a great achievement,” the understandably disconsolate Scot said. “You know, to have the opportunity to play in these tournaments, in these matches, is pretty incredible in the grand scheme of things.”
For Murray, whose dry but ever-present sense of humour has slowly shone through this tournament, the loss, while painful, isn’t the be-all and end-all.
“I'm not going to be too disappointed. I got a pretty good life. I've got a long career ahead of me, and I'm going to have more opportunities, you know, to win them. I hope that I will,” he said, a sentiment echoed by Federer’s acceptance speech, when the Swiss called Murray “too good a player not to win [a major].”
Murray has now risen to No. 3 in the world after his run to the final in Melbourne, and looks to have upped the aggression in his game, something that has arguably held him back in recent seasons. On Sunday night, he met a legend at his best, but the future looks bright for the Brit, who says he will take the hurt from two Grand Slam final defeats with him as motivation.
“I'm hungry to win one. I worked really, really hard to try to do it and give myself the opportunity. So far, it's not been good enough.”
“When it comes, maybe because of the two losses, it will be even better.”
Few will be betting against him doing so. The Scot is just 22, and with Rafael Nadal’s recent injury struggles, Murray looms as a likely heir to King Federer’s throne.
