In 2013 Scotsman Andy Murray became the first British male to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open era and the first to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.
“After embracing [opponent Novak] Djokovic, Murray dropped to his knees on the grass, and then bowed his head. Once he was back on his feet, he was walking around slapping hands with spectators in the front row, and he was floating about, not quite sure what to do with himself. All this was being broadcast to the largest TV audience of the year to date, and it was a long way from being poor telly.
This has been nothing less than epic. It had been an unexpected end to an unexpected fortnight, while the great majority of the sport’s former champions had predicted that Murray would win, had anyone imagined that he would beat the world number one player in straight sets? And had there ever been a less straightforward straight-setter? Some past five-setters at the All-England Club suddenly seemed a little unremarkable when put next to Murray’s excruciating 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 victory. ‘If you saw the scores,’ noted a past winner, Richard Krajicek, ‘you’d think, “Oh, that must have been a boring final,” but that was one of the most exciting finals I’ve ever seen.’ It was the product of some three hours and ten minutes of uninterrupted stress. How different this had been from [Fred] Perry’s victory over a German aristocrat, Gottfried von Cramm, in the 1936 final. That truly had been a straightforward and lop-sided straight-setter, with Perry winning 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 after von Cramm injured himself in the opening minutes and tore all drama out of the day.”
