At long, long last!

He didn’t do it the easy way, being taken to five sets, but finally Andy Murray has won a Grand Slam Final and ended the 76 drought for Great Britain.  I only woke to the result, rather than monitor it via radio or Internet (I have no Sky TV), as I felt tired at 9 pm – as the match was starting - and anyway had an early start the next day.  Just as well I didn’t stay up for this epic (I’m sure there will be a brisk trade in DVD souvenirs for others in the same situation), as otherwise I’d got almost no sleep at all.

Murray has to be a shoo-in for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, as Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman are further relegated to footnotes in history.  I mean, hey, if Rusedski can win the award for finishing runner-up at the US Open, any justice would see it going to Murray, who also has an Olympic Gold Medal from this summer.  While Team GB got a collective victory parade on the same day as the match, Murray could fill the streets of London with one of his own.

Hopefully, this will lead to more majors.  Once asked if he would have rather have played in the less demanding years before Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic bestrode the majors likes colossuses and giving him a chance of more championships, Murray dismissed this, saying that to win in this era would make it even more special.  Ivan Lendl has been instrumental in giving Murray that little bit extra that separates winners from losers.  He also benefitted from an extra day of rest, as storm clouds delayed Djokovic’s semi-final (monumental in length in itself).  Of course, Murray would beg to differ but I would be happy if he never won another major, just hoping that it would not be another three-quarters of a century before anyone did it again.  Yet breaking the duck also involves breaking a mental glass ceiling.  When in similar situations, Murray will have this additional reserve of confidence to fall back upon - that he knows he can do it.