Andy Murray and the weight of expectation

You have to admire Andy Murray for his level-headedness.

Almost instantly after Novak Djokovic exited the men’s draw in the third round, all the talk centred around who his elimination most benefitted.

Most of the attention came to rest on world No.2 and second seed Murray – in his last three Grand Slam finals appearances, he’d gone down to the dominant Serb.

Now the Wimbledon title was his to win. Or his to lose.

That was according to the bookies, at least. Murray was having none of it.

“If I was to reach the final, then it may have some bearing really, but it doesn’t right now,” Murray said of his arch-rival’s exit. “My draw’s still exactly the same. The matches, in the next round especially, are tough.

“The bookies don’t always get it right. They made a few mistakes over the last few weeks across a number of different things.

“Your job is to go out there and try to win the matches that are there in front of you. That’s what I’ll try and do.

“What happened to Novak is irrelevant to me.”

The British press didn’t do much to suppress the expectation in ensuing days. They instead stirred it up, as shown in this little exchange following Murray’s quarterfinal win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The country is a bit miserable right now. We need a new prime minister, Top Gear manager, new England football manager and Wales is losing. How does it feel to be the nation’s last hope?

“It’s not that bad, is it (laughter)? Is it that bad?”

Yeah, it’s pretty bad. You’re our last hope, Andy.

“I’m not. There’s a lot more hopes left than me. I just try my best at this event to make all the people that watch happy. Hopefully I can win a couple more, and that’s it (smiling).”

So far, he’s done just that. Apart from a five-set stumble against Tsonga in the quarterfinals, Murray hasn’t dropped a set, seeing off a string of dangerous opponents including Nick Kyrgios and Tomas Berdych.

Now he’s into a third Wimbledon final, where he will face Grand Slam final debutant Milos Raonic on Sunday.

This is the first time Murray will have faced an opponent in a slam final not named Djokovic or Roger Federer. In 10 previous major deciders, Murray has lined up across the net from Djokovic on seven occasions – including the last six straight – and Federer three times.

The Raonic match represents a golden opportunity for the Scot to add a third Grand Slam title to his tally against an opponent he has beaten in six of nine career meetings, including the last five straight. The most recent of those was a match that went the distance in the recent Queen’s final.

Of course, such stats and figures have whipped the British media and public up into quite the expectant frenzy.

The only one apparently keeping a cool head is Murray himself.

“Obviously (this is the) first time I’ll play a slam final against someone that isn’t Roger or Novak. So, yeah, that’s different,” he said, in rather understated fashion.

“You never know how anyone’s going to deal with the pressures of a slam final. So just have to go out there and concentrate on my side, do what I can to prepare well for it and see what happens.”

Murray acknowledges his approach to progressing through this year’s tournament may come across as slightly underwhelming or beige.

But it’s a necessary one if he hopes to hoist a Grand Slam trophy for the first time in three years.

There’ll be plenty of time for the excitement to bubble over after the final, should he emerge triumphant.

“(I have to) take it one match at a time. I know everyone goes, Oh, that’s boring. But that’s what you do as a professional,” he said.

“My job’s to try to win my next match, it’s not thinking about anything else.”

There’s only one more match to think about now.