Murray ends wait with first Grand Slam win

 

Originally published on: 11/09/12 00:00

The 25-year-old Brit had long said that the New York slam represented his best chance of major glory and the Scot finally delivered on that promise, winning a Grand Slam final at the fifth time of asking – just as coach Ivan Lendl had done at the 1984 French Open – in four hours and 54 minutes.

Victory meant an end to Murray shouldering the burden of 76 years of hurt. The wait for a successor to Fred Perry is well and truly over.

“I have been asked about [ending that wait] many times when I got close to winning Grand Slams before,” said Murray, a runner-up at the 2008 US Open, 2010 and 2011 Australian Opens and at this year’s Wimbledon. 

“I got asked about it more and more even after I won the Olympics. I still got asked, ‘When are you going to win a Grand Slam?’  So, yeah, it's great to have finally done it, and I said in one of the interviews after the match, I hope now, you know, it inspires some kids to play tennis and also takes away the notion that British tennis players choke or don't win or it's not a good sport.

“[Tennis] is in a very good place in the UK right now. Obviously Laura [Robson] has done very well. The Olympics was great for us. Liam Broady was in the final here in the juniors. It's in a good place. I hope it stays that way.”

Murray, who defeated Roger Federer to win the Olympics in August, said that winning a slam was “definitely different” to winning a gold medal, but after surviving the physical and emotional rollercoaster of his 7-6(10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 triumph in New York, the Scot is hoping his biggest victory yet opens the floodgates for more success.

“I am just so relieved to have finally got through,” said Murray. “[I] can put this one behind me and hopefully win more.”

The new world No.3 after moving ahead of the injured Rafael Nadal in the rankings, Murray has also put himself in a position to claim the world No.1 spot at the end of the year. That'll be no easy feat mind – the Scot went on a 17-match winning streak after last year's US Open, winning titles in Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai, and though Federer also has plenty of points to defend after winning in Basel, Paris and at the ATP World Tour Finals, Djokovic has a good chance of regaining top spot having failed to surpass a semi-final in his final three tournaments of 2011.

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