There was a time when the All England Club routinely featured Andy Murray at his best. With Wimbledon close to his heart — and with the crowd invariably on his side — for obvious reasons, he was a fixture at Centre Court; talent and resolve combined to give him two men’s singles championships, a runner-up finish, and a slew of Rounds of Four and Eight appearances. Since being sidelined by hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019, however, he has struggled to regain the form that once catapulted him to the top of world rankings. At 36 and with his prime long gone, all that remains is his pride.
Nonetheless, Murray saw Wimbledon as an opportunity for him to do better. He figured he would be able to go deep in the sport’s premier tournament, a not unreasonable supposition given his recent form. Never mind that he was 40th in the world heading into the fortnight, or that it had been six years since he last survived the first week. For sheer love of the game, he truly thought he could contend, or, at the very least, give a good account of himself in the most awaited stop of the Grand Slam rota. And, needless to say, there was to be no discounting the benefits provided by having fans on his side.
The other day, though, the wellspring of optimism Murray displayed was unceremoniously replaced by uncertainty. Perhaps he found himself dismayed by fate playing tricks on him. He made short work of Ryan Peniston in the first round, and seemed to have the upper hand against fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas before a local rule required the second half of the match to be postponed. And when play resumed 18 hours later, whatever momentum he had gave way to reality; he couldn’t claim the more crucial points, and ultimately saw a two-sets-to-one advantage turn into a five set loss.
True, there’s no shame in succumbing to a better — make that much better — player. On the other hand, Murray knew he let a chance go to waste. He didn’t offer up any excuses in his post-mortem. No doubt, it was because he understood that he, too, needed the rest provided by the curfew kicking in; he appeared to have been injured in the second-to-last point contested before the set-to was suspended. He did lament the effect of not having challenged a call that could have gotten him closer to generating a break of Tsitsipas’ serve in the fourth set, although not as a difference maker.
Considering the close-but-no-cigar development, Murray questioned whether he could still summon the motivation to subject his body to all the preparations that go into competing at tennis’ highest levels. “[T]his one will take a little while to get over. Hopefully find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better,” he said. The good news is that he has a year to ponder on the pros and cons of lacing up his sneakers anew. And should he opt to give Wimbledon another try, he would do well to remind himself that his mere presence is all that matters.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
