Murray a born winner – Borg
Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:34
The 22-year-old Scot lifted the AEGON Championships title last week, to become the first British winner at Queen’s in 71 years and all eyes will now focus on Wimbledon fortnight, when Murray will aim to be the first home-grown champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
“I have been very impressed with him this year. Andy is playing his best tennis,” said Borg, at Tuesday’s HSBC Champions of Wimbledon launch event at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. “Right now, he probably feels very, very confident. He can handle the pressure. If I had to pick two guys, it would be Murray and (Roger) Federer.”
He added: “I was really impressed with his clay-court season and coming off that, he feels strong and played well again last week at Queens.”
While Murray maintains he will not get swept up in all the inevitable pre-tournament hype, the world number three is set to be among the favourites at the All England Club, where he will look to fend off the challenges of newly-crowned French Open champion Federer and holder Rafael Nadal, currently struggling with a knee problem.
Borg – who won Wimbledon for five years running from 1976, as well as six French Open titles before retiring at the age of just 26 – feels Murray should have every reason to be confident.
Swedish ace Borg, 53, added: “Nadal lost the French Open [title] and that was one of the big goals for him this year. He did not play at Queen’s this year, and I do not know if his injury is serious or not, but mentally he has not done it this year.”
Former British number one Tim Henman, 34, reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon four times between 1998 and 2002. Now retired, Henman feels Murray has the game to go all the way at SW19 this year.
“I watched Andy at Queen’s and what impressed me most was how routine his performance was,” said Henman, also an ambassador for HSBC, who are running a public vote to find the greatest Wimbledon champion of all time.
“It is always a very good field at Queen’s and he only dropped his serve twice the whole week. He was a class apart, and it was such a great platform for him going into Wimbledon. His game looks very comfortable.”
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