Wimbledon Review - Andy Murray Ends British Drought - Mondays With Bob Greene

By Bob Greene

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Wimbledon

Men’s Singles: Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-5 6-4

Women’s Singles: Marion Bartoli beat Sabine Lisicki 6-1 6-4

Men’s Doubles: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan beat Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4

Women’s Doubles: Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai beat Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 7-6 (1) 6-1

Mixed Doubles: Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic beat Bruno Soares and Lisa Raymond 5-7 6-2 8-6

Junior Boys Singles: Gianluigi Quinzi beat Chung Hyeon 7-5 7-6 (2)

Junior Girls Singles: Belinda Bencic beat Taylor Townsend 4-6 6-1 6-4

Junior Boys Doubles: Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios beat Enzo Couacaud and Stefano Napolitano 6-2 6-3

Junior Girls Doubles: Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova beat Anhelina Kalinina and Iryna Shymanovich 6-3 6-1

Men’s Wheelchair Doubles: Stephane Houdet and Shingo Kunieda beat Frederic Cattaneo and Ronald Vink 6-4 6-2

Women’s Wheelchair Doubles: Jiske Griffioen and Aniek Van Koot beat Yui Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley 6-4 7-6 (6)

OTHER

Florian Mayer beat Jiri Vesely 4-6 6-2 6-1 to win the Sparkassen Open inBraunschweig,Germany

SAYING

“Winning Wimbledon, I think, is the pinnacle of tennis. I still can’t believe it. Can’t get my head around that. I can’t believe it. This one will take a little while to sink in, I’m sure.” – Andy Murray, after becoming the first British man to win the Wimbledon singles in 77 years.

“It was the finals of Wimbledon, so I cannot be too disappointed with my overall performance in the whole tournament. It was a great tournament for me. I could have done better today, but that’s sport. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, I guess. I need to have that kind of mentality and move on.” – Novak Djokovic, after losing the Wimbledon final to Andy Murray.

“When I saw the packed stadium and the beautiful sky, I was like, ‘Gosh, this is going to be a great moment.’ And it was a great moment, trust me.” – Marion Bartoli, after winning the women’s singles title.

“Everything now feels like a bonus. It just feels like we’re adding nuts and whipped cream and cherries to our great career.” – Bob Bryan, who with twin brother Mike became the first doubles team to be the reigning champion at all four Grand Slam tournaments at the same time.

“I didn’t think anything could feel as sweet as the (Olympic) gold medal, but this one just feels like there’s a cap, a lid, or a ribbon around our career. It’s pretty cool. It’s something we never dreamed of, to try to win four in a row.” – Mike Bryan.

“That last game will be the toughest game I’ll play in my career. Ever.” – Andy Murray, about a game in which he lost his first three match points before winning Wimbledon after the fourth deuce.

“I’ve dreamed about this moment for so long. For me, winning Wimbledonis beyond my wildest dreams, let alone with an ace – but I’ve been practicing my serve for so long, I guess I saved it for the best moment. … This has been my dream since I was six years old.” – Marion Bartoli.

“I’ve played my best tennis here. I took out the champion and runner-up from last year. That’s pretty big. This tournament definitely made me a better player. It was hard today but the experience will help me in the future. I still believe I can be champion one day.” – Sabine Lisicki, following her loss to Marion Bartoli in the women’s final.

“I like playing with girls that hit big and are aggressive because I’m pretty slow. I’m not going to be the one covering more than half the court, which happens sometimes in mixed doubles. I’m fortunate to play with someone that can more than do her share. She’s a great player.” – Daniel Nestor, who teamed with Kristina Mladenovic to win the mixed doubles.

“You know everything is starting to get empty in the locker room. It is, you know, a completely different feeling.” – Sabine Lisicki, on being in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

“It’s another good thing for the country. We had the London Olympics, we have a royal baby coming soon, and a win like this keeps us on a roll when times are hard.” – Graham Bredber, a 47-year-old railway worker cheering on Andy Murray’s victory.

SEVENTY-SEVEN YEAR DROUGHT ENDS

Andy Murray broke the curse and became Great Britain’s first Wimbledon men’s singles champion since Fred Perry won the title in 1936. And Murraydid it by sweeping past the world’s top-ranked player, Novak Djokovic, in straight sets. “It’s hard. It’s really hard,”Murray said. “You know, for the last four or five years it’s been very, very tough, very stressful. It’s just kind of everywhere you go. It’s so hard to avoid everything because of how big this event is, but also because of the history and no Brit having won.” Not true any more. And Murray did it by rallying in both the second and third sets. He trailed 4-1 in the second set and 4-2 in the third. Each time, he fought back to take the lead. In the third set – the final one as it turned out –Murray won the last four games to end the 77-year-old chase. Even then it wasn’t easy. He won the first three points and had triple match point. Djokovic pulled to deuce. “I started to feel nervous and started thinking about what just happened,”Murray said. “There’s a lot of things you’re thinking of at that moment.” Eight points later the long wait was over. Britain had its own Wimbledon champion, and his name was Andy Murray.

Queen Elizabeth reportedly joined in the celebration of Murray’s triumph, apparently sending him a private congratulatory message. Watching the victory from Centre Court’s royal box was British Prime Minister David Cameron. “It was an amazing performance from Andy Murray but also an amazing day for British tennis and for Britain,” Cameron said. “He never gave up and it was magnificent.”

Missing from the royal box was the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, a tennis fan who watched Murray last year but is due to give birth to the future heir to the British throne.

SECOND TIME A CHARM

Marion Bartoli’s second trip to the Wimbledonwomen’s singles final wound up with the big trophy. The Frenchwoman completed her run to the title by besting giant-killer Sabine Lisicki 6-1 6-4. Seeded 15^th, Bartoli became the 42^nd different player to win a Grand Slam tournament title in the Open Era, and the 18^th different player to capture the women’s singles at Wimbledon. She is just the sixth player since 1968 to win the title without dropping a set, joining Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport and Chris Evert. Bartoli’s first major title came in her 47^th Grand Slam tournament appearance, the most by a woman before winning. Jana Novotna won Wimbledon in 1998 in her 45th appearance at a major. While Bartoli had a relatively easy run to the final, Lisicki knocked off defending champion and top-ranked Serena Williams, last year’s Wimbledon finalist and fourth-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska, 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur and 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone. “Having so many hard matches is draining in the end of the day,” Lisicki said. “I think Marion was fresher today. I think that made a big difference too.” Bartoli lost the Wimbledon final in 2007 to Venus Williams in her only other trip to a major title match. It was Lisicki’s first Grand Slam tournament final. “I will learn and take away so much from it,” Lisicki said. “I’ve done that in the past. Experience has always helped me so much.”

SIGNAL ACHIEVEMENT

Hsieh Su-wei became the first player from Taiwan to win a Grand Slam tournament title when she teamed with China’s Peng Shuai to capture the women’s doubles, besting Australia’s Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua. Peng is the third Chinese to win a Grand Slam doubles title. Hsieh and Peng have now won six WTA titles as a team. At Wimbledon, they were seeded eighth. Their Australian opponents were seeded 12^th. It was the third time Dellacqua has finished runner-up in a women’s doubles final at a Grand Slam event. However, she did win the 2011 French Open mixed doubles title with American Scott Lipsky.

SEMIFINAL STRUGGLE

In a titanic semifinal struggle that many consider the best match of the tournament, top-seeded Novak Djokovic survived against Juan Martin del Potro 7-5 4-6 7-6 (2) 6-7 (6) 6-3. Even Djokovic was impressed. “It was one of the best matches I’ve been a part of, one of the most exciting,” the relieved winner said. “It was so close.” The battle lasted four hours, 43 minutes, the longest semifinal inWimbledonhistory. “I could not separate us, apart from when I was 2-1 up and a break up, and I dropped serve,” said Djokovic. “That’s why he’s a Grand Slam champion. He came up with some top shots … credit to him.” Del Potro’s long Grand Slam tournament title came at the US Open in 2009 before injuries sidelined the Argentine.

STREAKING

The latest triumph by twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan means they are the reigning champions of all four Grand Slam tournaments, a feat being dubbed the “Golden Bryan Slam.” They also won last year’s London Olympic doubles gold medal on the grass at Wimbledon. “It’s hard to even dream that we’d have the Slam, all four at one time,” said Mike. “It all started back after we won the gold. It just felt like a huge pressure was released. Went on to win the (US) Open and had a great summer. This year we’ve been on an amazing year. Never had a streak like this. Especially at 35, I feel like we’re hitting our peak.” The 35-year-old Americans lost the first five games of the match before finding their game. The victory raised their career total to 91 doubles titles. “Now we got to try to suit back up for the calendar slam,” Mike said, referring to the US Open, the final major of the year. “I don’t even want to think about that.” Ken McGregor and Frank Sedgman are the only men’s doubles team to have held all four titles at once, winning seven successive majors from the 1951 Australian Open to Wimbledon in 1952.

STAYING HOME

The back injury that kept Venus Williams out of Wimbledon is also causing her to pull out of World TeamTennis matches this week. The seven-time Grand Slam tournament winner has not played since suffering a first-round loss at the French Open in May. When she withdrew from Wimbledon, it ended the 33-year-old’s streak that had begun with her debut on the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 1997. The 33-year-old American had played at Wimbledon every year since making her debut there in 1997. The Kastles, who began this week on a 32-match winning streak, said Martina Hingis would replace Williams.

SWISS OPEN SPOT

Roger Federer is returning to his roots. Following his stunning second-round loss on the grass courts at Wimbledon, Federer will play the clay-court Swiss Open in Gstaad, where he debuted when he was 16 years old. On his Twitter account, Federer wrote that Gstaad “gave me my first wild card in ’98.” He was the Wimbledon junior champion, but lost in straight sets to Lucas Arnold Ker of Argentina. Federer won the Gstaad title in 2004.

STRANGE

Playing in a USD $50,000 Challenger tournament in Winnetka,Illinois,USA, top-seeded Alex Bogomolov Jr. retired from his semifinal match when he disagreed with a line call. Serving in the third set, Bogomolov and his opponent, eighth-seeded American Bradley Klahn, were in a baseline rally when Bogomolov appeared to let up on a shot at his feet, believing it was long. The chair umpire told Bogomolov the ball was good and that the lines person saw it the same way. Bogomolov extended his hand to the umpire and conceded the match, losing 4-6 6-4 3-1.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Braunschweig: Tomasz Bednarek and Mateusz Kowalczyk beat Andreas Siljestrom and Igor Zelenay 6-2 7-6 (4)

SURFING

Båstad (men): http://men.swedishopen.org

Stuttgart: www.mercedescup.de/

Newport: www.halloffametennischampionships.com/

Budapest: www.hungariangp.hu

Hamburg: http://bet-at-home-open.com/

Båstad (women): www.swedishopen.org/

Bad Gastein: www.gastein-ladies.at

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)