Saturday, July 9, 2016

Andy Murray is finally the favorite in Wimbledon final with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic eliminated


Roger Federer vs Marin Cilic Highlights 2016/07/06 QF | HD720p50 by ACE

WIMBLEDON, EnglandThe headline in the Times of London said exactly what many Brits are thinking: Finally its not Federer or Djokovic. Yes, at last Andy Murray, the homeboy, will play for the championship of a tennis Grand Slam and not be facing two of the men who the last few years have been the best in the sport, Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic.

In Sundays Wimbledon mens final, Murray the Scot the English papers too often refer to him just as a Brit plays Milos Raonic, 25, who not only is the first Canadian male to get this far but the first ever to make it to the final round in any of the four major tournaments.

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For the Murray, 29, it is his 11th Grand Slam final, the previous 10 against either Djokovic or Federer, and the third at Wimbledon where he lost to Federer in 2012 and beat Djokovic in 2013. Murray has been in the finals of all three Slams this year, losing to Djokovic in the Australian and the French. Hes comfortable.

Three weekends ago, Murray won Queens for a fifth time, one of the grass court preludes to Wimbledon, defeating Raonic in the final. But Murray said, Im aware Ill have to play a very good match if I want to win Wimbledon. I was down a set and a break at Queens. Hopefully Ill come out firing.

Raonic certainly will. The serve is his weapon. At 6-5, hes known as one of the fastest servers in the game, if not the fastest, recording speeds of more than 140 mph.

Ivan Lendl, the Czech who never won Wimbledon, is one of Murrays coaches, and John McEnroe, the American who won it three times, is one of Raonics. It gives actually a bit of extra confidence, said Murray, reuniting with Lendl, because I know last time we worked together, it was very successful. I trust in what he says.

What McEnroe did for Raonic was get him to be more emotional, which certainly McEnroe was when he played.

I think hes definitely put an emphasis on it, Raonic said. I try to calm myself down. He says. Theres no too calm for you. You tend to be too calm, try to get energy out of you, try to get it out of you on court and leave it all out there, try to get the most out of yourself.

That has worked so far. But will it for sixth-seeded Ranic against second-seeded Murray? Murray has all the shots, moves very and will have virtually all the 14,000 fans at Centre Court cheering for him.

That is, Murray said, a nice advantage.

Source: http://www.newsday.com/sports/tennis/andy-murray-is-finally-the-favorite-in-wimbledon-final-with-roger-federer-novak-djokovic-eliminated-1.12024558

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