Stretched out: Can Murray push Federer all the way? Pic: © Reuters/David Gray
It had to be Roger. In his heart of hearts, even as Andy Murray lapped up the adulation of the supporters at Melbourne Park, after disposing of Marin Cilic in their semi-final encounter, he must have known that his victory would simply provide Roger Federer with an added incentive to pursue another Grand Slam title. The record books show that the Swiss maestro has snaffled up more major tournaments than anybody else in the history of the game and anybody who thought that he might start to contemplate winding down into retirement, now that he has become a father, doesn’t appreciate the hunger and relentless work ethic which motivates and inspires the Fed Express.
It was evident in the fashion with which he rallied to beat Nikolay Davydenko in the quarter-finals. At one stage, the world No 1 was in a tight spot, whereupon he began serving with a marvellous consistency, produced a string of ground strokes which sped past Davydenko in every direction, and generally moved up another couple of gears from the player who had breezed through the early rounds in Australia. This is one of Federer’s strengths: the ability to grab a contest through the sheer force of his personality and mould it to his will. He wasn’t required to replicate the same standards in his semi-final meeting with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who looked like a beaten man before he had even walked onto the court, and was duly despatched in straight sets.
That’s another of Federer’s strengths – the ability to get under the skin of opponents, not with barbs or verbal exchanges but by breezing into tournaments with the body language of a competitor who doesn’t hope for success, but expects to triumph every time he turns up at a Grand Slam arena, whether in England, France, the United States or Australia. The record books serve notice of his powers in these high-profile events and, as such, we shouldn’t read too much into Murray’s impressive record over Federer on the ATP tour, where matches are shorter and there is a greater opportunity for quick kills.
Yet, if these factors mean that the Scot faces a Herculean task in Sunday’s final, he can derive solace from the fact that he is the one player in the world at the moment with the ability to rattle Roger and the perseverance not to be swatted away like some bothersome nuisance. It is no secret on the tour that these two are not best buddies and that is a testimony to Murray’s refusal to be overawed by any opponent. Of course, he recognises the scale of Federer’s accomplishments and is prepared to acknowledge them in public, but that is as far as the respect goes. Once the pair are pitted against one another, it is a different story and even if the Scot has already lost one Grand Slam final to Federer – at Flushing Meadow in 2008 – he is a more complete player now than he was at that point in his development. He has also, on the evidence thus far from Melbourne, ditched the rather negative tactics and playing-the-percentages approach which cost him dearly against Andy Roddick at last year’s Wimbledon and he will have to demonstrate similar attacking intent this weekend. It will, of course, have to be coupled with commonsense and pragmatism, because there will be periods where Federer’s serve is indomitable and where he will exert control for stretches of the match. But one of Murray’s biggest assets is his ability to transform adversity to advantage with his ceaseless chasing of apparently lost causes and his Houdini-style penchant for orchestrating remarkable escapes.
And at least in this regard, he won’t be overly tired from his previous efforts in the last fortnight. By the stage he tackled Federer in New York two years ago, he had been forced to dig deep over five sets against Jurgen Melzer and had struggled to overcome Juan Martin Del Potro and Rafael Nadal, all of which added up to an awful lot of mental and physical demands on his mind and body. In this instance, he has played just 19 sets of tennis in six matches and only Cilic really tested him during that sequence. So Murray will be fresh, he will be ready to explode out of the blocks and seize the initiative. He has been here before and isn’t one of life’s chokers, nor will be lie down to Federer. The latter may be the favourite, but not by a huge margin any more. And the one man he wouldn’t have chosen to meet in the denouement is the fellow he is up against.
Let’s step back and light the touch paper….!
