To put Sunday’s gripping tennis denouement in a local context, Andy Murray losing the Men’s Wimbledon final to the great Roger Federer is like if Cathy Freeman had not won Gold in the 400metres at the Sydney Olympics.
The Scotsman had the hopes of the entire British Isles resting on his shoulders, compounded by the insane pressure of performing in front of a patently desperate home crowd. Add to that the incidental side note that his opponent is the widely acknowledged GOAT of men’s tennis and you can appreciate the bowel-worrying psychological and physical burden Murray was dealing with.
“It’s not an easy tournament for British players in many ways, but I think I dealt with all the extra things away from the tournament pretty well – definitely better than I have done in the past,” he said.
In the end it took Federer playing superb tennis and equaling Pete Sampras and William Renshaw’s record as a seven-time winner to take the crown away from Murray, winning with a final match score of 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. Despite Federer’s win, Murray endeared himself to the crowd with this tearful, heartfelt speech during the presentation ceremony.
The only thing getting more press than Federer’s impressive victory or Murray’s passionate display of sportsmanship is Kim Sears, Murray’s beautiful girlfriend. Behold…
Sears, who sat in the crowd near fellow Andy Murray fans Kate and Pippa Middleton, was a major topic of social media conversation during the final. The general consensus was that anyone with a girlfriend that hot is still a winner (see also: “pity fuck”).
Images by Clive Brunskill and Glyn Kirk, Getty Images.
