I’LL LIGHT UP WIMBLEDON, SAYS MURRAY
BRITISH No1 Andy Murray has vowed to entertain the masses en route to Wimbledon glory after treating the crowds at Queen’s Club to a rare display of showboating on his way to clinching the AEGON Championship yesterday.
Murray battled back from a set down to beat France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 to complete his SW19 preparations in style in front of a capacity crowd.
The 24-year-old insists he’s now ready to break his grand slam duck on the famous grass courts of Wimbledon and is hoping to do so with a panache at odds with his usual pragmatic style.
“I felt comfortable on the court when I went ahead and it was nice to let a bit of something off by hitting that shot because I had been behind for 90 per cent of the match,” said Murray of the shot he played between his legs on the half-volley during the closing stages of the match.“If it works, I will try it anywhere. It is not something you think about too much.
“Sometimes guys hit them at the right time, and sometimes at the wrong time. It just depends what is going on in your head. I felt like trying to do it and I did.”
After a turbulent couple of weeks which saw an ankle injury hamper his path to the semi-final of the French Open and his early progress at Queen’s, Murray heads into his home grand slam in a justifiably confident mood.
His destruction of Andy Roddick on Saturday represented one of his finest ever performances on grass, while the battling qualities he displayed in coming from a set behind to beat Tsonga will serve him well over the course of the Wimbledon fortnight.
He said: “I am going into Wimbledon with the feeling I am going to win – you can’t go in with any other attitude. I feel I am playing good tennis, I need to work on some things and improve though.
“I will need to play my best tennis throughout the tournament and I will be switched on for the first match. I am really looking forward to getting ready for it, because for me it is one of the most important tournaments of the year, if not the most.”
After Sunday’s washout, Murray was surprised to be greeted by a bumper crowd of over 6,000 in west London for yesterday’s final and he hopes that won’t be the last time he gives a home audience reason to celebrate this summer.
“You never know how busy it is going to be when something like that happens, but the stadium was packed and it was amazing,” he said.
And Murray also believes he’s at ease with the pressures that accompany his Wimbledon campaign.
“A lot of people think coming up to Wimbledon you have to conserve energy, stay in your house, don’t look at the papers or watch TV,” he added.
“But that is not normal. You just have to prepare exactly how you would for everything else and that is what I am going to do.
“If there is a paper there, then I will open it up and have a little read, and smile, then do the crossword.”