So the doubts remain. Andy Murray’s heroic run to the Australian Open final was ended in abrupt fashion as Roger Federer’s brilliance simply blew him away. Murray stated quite clearly before the final that he wants to be remembered as a player who ‘wins one of these things’. It was almost like he was playing against the weight of history, and in the end it was too much for him. His emotional speech at the end was admirable in its sincerity and in showing how much it was hurting him.
Federer, gracious in victory, told Murray he was ‘too good a player not to win a Slam. Don’t worry about it”. It is clearly getting to Murray though. He has now played in two Grand Slam finals, and has yet to win a set. At the US Open in 2008 he was exhausted after beating Rafael Nadal over two days, and had no rest before the final. In Melbourne he had a day more than Federer to recover, yet still looked physically spent by the third set. Federer looked as fresh as a daisy.
The problem was spelled out by Boris Becker, who landed his first Slam in his first final at the age of 17. He said of Murray: “We don’t know if he can get over that last big hurdle until he actually does it. It’s the biggest step he faces and until he does it the doubts will be there.” Becker insisted that grand slams titles are won by players who go out and grab them, no-one hands a title to you, and felt Murray was too passive and let Federer dominate him too much.
Becker knows that tennis at that level is far more mental than physical. How else to explain the forehand miss when Murray had set point in the tie-break – he dumped a half-court ball halfway up the net. Becker explained that it revealed Murray’s defensive mind-set: “It’s not a position he was comfortable in, being aggressive, and he missed it.”
That said, it should be pointed out that Federer was at his ethereal, brilliant best, particularly in a stunning second set. He was aggressive, created stunning angles and moved like he was on roller-skates, it was sumptuous to watch. Murray could only watch for much of it, but when Federer’s inevitable dip came at the start of the third Murray could not take advantage.
The third set tie-break was tense and contained some marvellous tennis, but the weight of a two-set advantage told in the end.
Murray was playing in his 17th Grand Slam, the same number as Federer when he won his first title, 2003 Wimbledon. It burst the banks for Federer, who since he was a junior kept hearing he was going to break all records, but couldn’t string together the results to back it up. He suffered disastrous first-round defeats at the French, Wimbledon and the French again, before cracking it in SW19, and after that he reached 23 consecutive Grand Slam semis, 18 out of 19 finals and claiming a record 16 titles. It all started on that emotional day in 2003 – he finally knew he could seal the deal. With Murray we still don’t know.
Murray can take lots of positives from the Australian Open. Last year he lost in all four Grand Slams to players who were ranked lower than him. It took the greatest player ever to stop him this time. His ranking will go up to three, and he continues his run of improving his performance in the last five Slams he has played in. All of which is to his immense credit, but let’s look at the year ahead.
The next Slam is the French Open in May on clay, Murray’s worst surface out of the four. His march to the quarters last year was impressive, but to repeat that performance this year will take a huge effort, and he has no realistic chance of winning the title. Then it’s Wimbledon, and two weeks of immense media scrutiny and pressure which he would have to be super-human to survive. His best shot will come in August at the US Open title, his favourite Slam and one he feels almost destined to win. So fir Murray fans it’s a long seven months until his best chance to break his duck. Let’s hope he does it, and the dam will well and truly burst.