Exhibitionist shows of egotism aren’t Andy Murray’s style: two years have passed since that famous flex of a bulging bicep and more recently he decided a Ferrari was too pretentious a means of transport. However, place Britain’s lone tennis star in front of a group of sporting icons he reveres at Wimbledon and heroics will follow.
Sir Chris Hoy made a point of being in Murray’s corner when his compatriot played the final of the Australian Open and came up short against Roger Federer. Home territory, and admittedly a distinctly less exacting opponent in Gilles Simon, meant Scotland’s most accomplished sportsman left not only celebrating an emphatic victory by his countryman but brimful of hope that greater things are to follow.
Three rounds accomplished in straight sets and a service that has held firm since the opening exchanges of Murray’s first-round match; it cannot get much more satisfying than that and now the fourth seed goes forward into the tournament’s second week to encounter an opponent in Sam Querrey whom he has beaten three times on the ATP World Tour without even dropping a set.
Optimism on behalf of Sir Chris or anybody else is not misplaced. After a near-perfect first week of the Championships, those gloomy months full of a lackadaisical attitude and alarmingly bad results that followed Murray’s Melbourne defeat now seem a distant memory.
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His showing in the 6-1 6-4 6-4 win over Simon was as close to faultless as the 23-year-old has been since Marin Cilic fell to him in the Australian semi-final.
I’m going to have to play a lot better next week if I want to go all the way “It’s kind of tough to compare the two tournaments,” said Murray, not wishing to be drawn into the trap of assuming another path to a final is opening up before him. “However, in terms of the way this first week’s gone, it’s been great. Now I’ve got to try and build on that for next week.”
The fourth seed added: “But the start has been very good and something I needed for my confidence. I knew I wasn’t very far away from playing very good tennis again but I just needed to put in more work and that’s what I did the week before the tournament; and It has obviously showed in the first few matches, but I’m going to have to play a lot better next week if I want to go all the way.”
Querrey, the tall, strong but far from lithe and athletic Californian whose service power took him to the Aegon Championships title across the River Thames at Queen’s Club a fortnight ago, already has played a part in Murray’s tennis history. He provided quarter-final opposition in the Scot’s path to the US Open junior title and after an impressive start crumbled to a 2-6 7-6 6-1 defeat.
Much has happened in the interim and both players have made their mark in a man’s world, but Murray is the more accomplished and Querrey accepts the fact. “It’ll be a tough one,” said the 18th-seeded American who was forced to put in greater effort to register his place in the fourth round with a 6-7 6-4 6-2 5-7 9-7 win over Belgium’s Xavier Malisse in near darkness at 9.23pm on Court One.
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“It will be another Centre Court match [against Murray]. He’s playing great without dropping a set yet and he’s one of the favourites here. I’m just going to go out there and play big. Hopefully I can have a high first serve percentage because that is going to be key because he has such a great return.
“I must take a few more chances than I normally do and maybe run around on some second serves and try to rip some forehands. But I don’t want to play just out of control. I want to play safe and aggressive at the same time.”
In terms of stature the gangly Querrey, who stands at 6ft 6in, and the comparably diminutive Simon, at 5ft 11in, could not be more diverse. The Frenchman was a member of the world’s elite top 10 a couple of years ago but injuries had taken their toll this year and before arriving at Wimbledon he had only played six main tour events throughout 2010.
Simon played neither the Australian or French Opens and a knee problem caused him to be sidelined for more than three months throughout the spring, only returning to competition at Eastbourne in the week preceding Wimbledon.
When encountering Murray in his determined and concentrated mood, an opponent’s prime requisite is to be totally at one with his game and confident his shots have the power and depth to force the issue.
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Most certainly that was not the case for a timid-looking Simon as the fourth seed completely dominated throughout a sprint of a first set that only lasted 23 minutes, and the second set was on fractionally less one-sided.
It was only in the third set that Murray appeared to be in anything like a contest, but hard as the smaller man tried, there always seemed to be a stronger shot coming back from the opposing end of the net.
In fact, the biggest issue appeared to be the gathering gloom after play was prevented from starting until after 7pm because of Rafael Nadal’s protracted progression against Philipp Petzschner. Had Murray and Simon progressed beyond three sets then tournament referee Andrew Jarrett could have halted play for 45 minutes, closed Centre Court’s retractable roof, configured the climate control and turned on the floodlights for the second night session of this year’s Championships.
Murray, who won but didn’t necessarily enjoy last year’s five-setter under cover against Stanislas Wawrinka, was only too aware the complexion of the match could easily have changed but was sufficiently swift to render any decision-making hypothetical.
“Tonight was tough because it was getting dark before the end of the game and if I hadn’t managed to close it out we would have gone off and waited for the roof to close.
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“I wasn’t actually rushing but I knew I obviously wanted to finish the match,” he said. “It does make you a little bit more nervous.” At the Australian Open the now familiar form of 6ft 9in John Isner presented mid-tournament opposition for Murray and he formulated the perfect game plan to deal with the big-serving threat. Tactics against Isner’s doubles partner, Querrey, will not be dissimilar.
“Sam’s got a big serve, bigger than the guys that I’ve played so far and has a slightly more unpredictable game,” maintained Murray. “Rallies will probably be a little bit shorter. But I’ve played well against him in the past and there are certain things that obviously against big guys you have to try and do. You want to keep them on the move as much as possible.”
Just as he prophesied he would, Murray has recaptured his focus and is now bordering on his top form as Wimbledon moves towards its sharp end. He once again appears a serious contender to lift the title rather than a shadow of his former self, and victories such as that over Simon will only serve to bolster his self-esteem still further.
He’s not a show-off but is perfectly aware that when he plays tennis well then he’s a hard man to beat with the support of the Centre Court behind him. And that’s a fact of which Sam Querrey is hugely aware.