Murray Plans To Celebrate Second Wimbledon Title Differently

Andy Murray’s 2013 Wimbledon title meant so much to him and his family, but also to all of Great Britain. After all, it had been 77 years since a British male had won the title at The Championships. Murray’s sweep against Novak Djokovic ended the long national drought that dated back to the days of Fred Perry and Bunny Austin.

But Murray believes that his second Wimbledon title, which he claimed on Sunday by beating Milos Raonic 6-3, 7-6(3), 7-6(2), had a different feel to it.

“I feel happier this time. I feel more content this time. I feel like this was sort of more for myself more than anything, and my team as well. We’ve all worked really hard to help get me in this position,” Murray said.

Before Murray won the title in 2013, the pressure had been building for years. He had already played at Wimbledon seven times and had come within sets of winning the title, losing in the semi-finals three times and finishing as a finalist in 2012. So when Murray finally hoisted the trophy three years ago, he admitted on Sunday, “It was just pure relief, and I didn’t really enjoy the moment as much… You just get dragged in all sorts of different directions afterwards.”

The 29 year old explained to the Centre Court crowd that he planned to celebrate his second Wimbledon crown differently. “I’m going to make sure I enjoy this one more than the others,” he said. “I want to spend this time with my family and my closest friends, the people that I work with… I’ll make sure I spend a lot of time with them over the next couple of days.”

The Scot has earned the time to relax. The second seed lost only two sets en route to his third Grand Slam championship (also 2012 US Open, 2013 Wimbledon). Against Raonic in the final, Murray hardly let the 6’5” right-hander get into a rhythm. Murray neutralised Raonic’s biggest weapon – his serve – limiting the sixth seed to eight aces – 15 below his Wimbledon average. The Brit also won 32 per cent of his return points.

“I practise my returns a lot. It didn’t sort of just happen by chance,” Murray said. “I practise it for 30 minutes every day. A lot of players hit loads of tennis balls, and maybe at the end of practice they serve a little bit and return a little bit. Sometimes those two shots get left out. But they’re the most important shots in the game, so I practise them a lot.”

Murray also has improved his serve, which was evident against Raonic and throughout his second Wimbledon run. Murray won 77 per cent of his service points in the final and ended the fortnight having held for 29 consecutive games, dating back to his semi-final contest against Tomas Berdych.

“I got a lot of free points from my serve. My second serve has been good the past few weeks, as well. Again, that allows you to go for a little bit more on your first serve and be a little bit more relaxed,” Murray said.

With three Grand Slam championship titles, Murray is hardly ready to relax, though. He’s determined to remain among the best on the ATP World Tour. “I still feel like my best tennis is ahead of me, that I have an opportunity to win more,” Murray said. “Everyone’s time comes at different stages. Some come in their early 20s, some mid-20s. Hopefully mine is still to come.”

Murray, who is currently No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is now 3-8 overall in Grand Slam championship finals. He has lifted 38 tour-level trophies during his career.