TENNIS:A WAR of words has begun. It's something we would understand in Ireland with Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell. Andy Murray is Scottish not British. He's Scottish. The diplomat in him has handled the Anglo-Scot affair very well but Murray, who faces Rafa Nadal today in the men's semifinal, has walked a minefield throughout the two weeks.
When the queen arrived they asked him would he bow. That has provoked a few people here in the certainty that the same question of protocol treachery would not have been put to such a quintessential Englishman as Tim Henman.
Murray has always had an individual streak in him that has perhaps helped him rise to within two matches of finally closing that achingly long gap with Fred Perry, the last British and English champion of 1936.
Murray beat world number one Nadal in Australia on his way to the final of the first Grand Slam of the year. That, however, has already been dismissed as a historical curiosity and of no relevance for today’s match. Nadal leads the career head-to-heads 7-3.
“He’s played three (Wimbledon) finals in a row and he’s in the semis here,” said Murray.
“Psychologically I need to believe that I can win the match. That’s the most important thing.”
Murray’s odds went to 11 to to win Wimbledon, the shortest- priced British player since Perry.
“It means nothing at all,” he quipped. “It’s totally irrelevant, the odds. Totally irrelevant.”
Nadal didn’t defend his title last year because of injury but his Wimbledon pedigree, in terms of current players, is second only to that of Federer. A finalist in 2006 and 2007 and a winner in 2008, he has put a priority on not getting caught up in the moment of a hostile Centre Court.
The first two sets in their meeting in Australia were of high quality and Murray won both.
“I was very happy abut my level in those two sets,” said Nadal. “I was a break up in both, I think. Maybe the only mistake I made then was not to stay a little bit more calm.”
Novak Djokovic, who Britain also tried to make British some years ago with a sizable incentive that would have put a nice dent in the €36.4 million the Lawn Tennis Association receive each year from Wimbledon, faces Tomas Berdych in the second semi-final. .
The Serb declined those overtones, thus denying the population here an intoxicatingly high dosage of national fervour by technically having two British players in the semi-finals. He meets Berdych, the man who ruined Roger Federer’s week. It’s been two years since Djokovic won a Grand Slam at the Australian Open and other than that the only other final he has played is the 2007 US Open, a poor return for a player of his ability, ranked three in the world.
Berdych comes in with his big game perfectly tuned and having played in the semi-finals of the French Open, he is not uncomfortable staying afloat at this depth in a Grand Slam. Seeded 12, he comes armed with Federer’s scalp and although respecting Djokovic’s natural talent, his opponent’s history is one of mental frailty under pressure. Even Djokovic knows this.
“I was far away from my maximum and my top game in the last couple of months. It was more like a mental struggle, I guess,” said Djokovic after he beat Robin Soderling in the quarter-final.
“I wasn’t finding myself on court, had too many distractions, meaning mental discomfort on court . . . sure everyone has been through that little mini-crisis if you want to call it.”
He has played Berdych twice and not lost a set. But the new Berdych has become more patient. He has the big shots but he is not making the catastrophic numbers of unforced errors he used to make. Berdych sees his own game being the important factor, nothing else. He explained so in perfect tennis English.
“The important is gonna be what’s my game gonna be,” he said ringing with confidence and despite the presence of Djokovic, Nadal and Murray. On that Murray point, the LTA might not encourage too many comparisons between their current darling and the lothario, Perry.
The 1936 Wimbledon champion was one of the leading bachelors of the 1930s and his off-court romances were legendary. He had a romantic relationship with actress Marlene Dietrich and in 1934 announced his engagement to British actress Mary Lawson.
That relationship fell apart after Perry relocated to America. In 1935 he married American film star Helen Vinson. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1940. The following year Perry was briefly married to model Sandra Breaux and in 1945 he married again, Lorraine Walsh. That marriage ended quickly. He finally got hitched to Barbara Riese in 1952 and it lasted 40 years, until his death. Like Murray, Perry just never gave up.
