Federer vs Murray: Playing for Prestige!

Federer has a lot at stake in the Wimbledon Final, which could be considered as most promising come-back of his carrier with coveted No. 1 Ranking on the table. More than the records Federer does crave for the win to prove to the tennis word that no matter what the sun always rises.

More about this in the previous article, The sun also Rises: RogerAndy Murray has the hopes of an entire nation riding on his shoulders, a nation that hasn’t seen a British finalist since Bunny Austin in 1938. Also being 25, and part of the big-four of tennis for last 4 years, he has been an underachiever with no Majors under his belt.

Murray has always been called a “pusher”, who tries to put more balls over the net than his opponent. At times even playing his shots slower than usual, just to break the rhythm of his opponent and forcing an error. A lack of a firepower against the best players is sometimes sited as the reason for Murray not having won crucial matches. But having Ivan Lendl as his coach since December 2011 has rubbed-on, with Andy showing some base-line aggression and developing a stronger serve.

In this tournament if we compare the serve of both payers then, Andy has served 74 aces against 59 of Federer. Andy Murray’s fastest serve of 135 mph in the tournament is also better than Federer, who has been serving in the mid-120’s. This is actually surprising, since Federer is widely accepted to have a more potent serve than Murray.

In the return department too, some anomalies can be noted with Federer leading the 1^st serve return points won (159) against second best (132) of Murray. Though Murray adds to image as a better returner, with 171 second serve return points won against 116 of Federer.

On paper, Andy Murray does look like the favourite especially with a head-to-head record of 8-7 against Federer. But all this looks bleak when you try to recall the crucial matches of Murray. He has played three Grand Slam finals before this, and every time he has lost in straight sets! In Australian Open 2011 he lost to Novak Djokovic 6–4, 6–2, 6–3. Against Roger Federer, in 2010 US open 6–2, 7–5, 6–2 and in Australian Open 2010 6–3, 6–4, 7–6(11).

No one from Britain has won a Grand Slam, let alone Wimbledon since 1936, this from the nation that invented the game! Can Murray end the Jinx? (personal as well of the entire nation)

Or will it be Federer who will break his own Jinx of not winning a Grand Slam in last 2 years after having dominated for the better part of the previous decade.

Well I expect nothing short of a perfect match from both these players.