He has scaled the man mountain, dodged the rain showers, and now has to deprive the world’s best ever player of perhaps his last shot at winning Wimbledon.
All in a week’s work for Andy Murray, who had to work hard yesterday to earn his sixth and probably most succulent semi-final at the All England Club — against the extraordinary Roger Federer.
Turning back the clock to show some of his grass court form of the mid-noughties, Federer will present Murray with a far more elegant challenge than he has faced in the previous two rounds.
Having seen off the Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic on Monday, the 28-year-old Scot found himself stretched by underrated Canadian Vasek Pospisil before coming through 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in a total of two hours and 12 minutes.
Wills and Kate were there in the Royal Box and, in the ‘cheaper’ seats, so was David Beckham. They could be back for tomorrow’s meeting against the head of tennis’s aristocracy.
World No 56 Pospisil is more of a commoner, and yesterday’s contest started as an outdoor match that switched halfway through to being played under the Centre Court roof. Memories, then, of the 2012 final that ended in tears when Murray played Federer and let slip the initial lead of a set after the lid was pulled over the great arena.
A happier recollection will be the Olympic final four weeks later, which turned out to be the precursor to him winning the US Open.
A notable aspect of that golden afternoon was the fervent crowd support for Murray, which is not always the case across London at the O2 Arena. Federer, for whom a career beckons as a United Nations ambassador, is never short of friends.
The forecast suggests that the roof will not be a factor tomorrow, so it should be a straight fight between two players who have faced each other 23 times.
Somewhat surprisingly, as Federer has been moving towards his supposed twilight and Murray is in his prime, the last three meetings have been won by the great Swiss.
He is the world No 2, despite that win in 2012 being the last of his 17 majors and everything points towards this one being too close to call. Overall the Scot has been the second best player of 2015 to date, and now is the time to show it.
The official No 2 ranking will be at stake, among other things.
They will be part of line-up that sees three top seeds joined by Richard Gasquet, meaning the 20-year wait for the top four to make the semis goes on. Federer is in imperious form, but he has had the easier draw of the two, and it may be that come tomorrow Murray will be grateful to Karlovic and Pospisil for two thorough workouts.
Nobody gave the Canadian much of a shot yesterday, but he played to a level that made James Ward taking him to 8-6 in the fifth set of their third round look a very respectable achievement. It should help Murray that Pospisil, a doubles expert, moved forward and attacked the net with great skill and purpose, because that has become Federer’s modus operandi under the recent tutelage of Stefan Edberg.
His whole package is clearly not the equal of the Swiss, but Federer’s serve will not pack the raw punch that Murray has had to contend with in his last two rounds. The Scot managed to break before the first rain delay at 3-1 and close the first set out before the second one came at 3-4 in the second, leading to the roof shutting.
The pressure exerted by the Canadian, who had nothing to lose, saw an unhealthy amount of gesticulating from Murray to his box, where coach Amelie Mauresmo was seated.
Coincidentally, it was nine years to the day that she won her solitary Wimbledon title.
On the surface it was Pospisil displaying the greater sangfroid, although he struggled to remain calm after receiving a time violation at 5-5 and 30-30 when he was about to serve.
French umpire Pascal Maria is a stickler on the time between points issue, and the Canadian only let his displeasure be known afterwards.
‘I think a lot of times these umpires, they seem to just want to be seen,’ he said.
‘I don’t know why they do it at a time like that. I went 30 seconds.
‘How many times do you see the top guys go more than that and they don’t get any violation, especially when it’s important moments?
‘If he would have waited one second longer, I would have served. That was ridiculous, in my opinion.’
One of Murray’s signature short angled cross-court backhands sealed the second set, and he gradually asserted his superiority in the third to break decisively for 5-4, although the Canadian fought until the very last point.
This was a new experience for him, while a Grand Slam semi-final will be like putting an old slipper for Federer.
It will be no less fascinating for that. – Daily Mail