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Murray eyes Wimbledon glory

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 21/06/2009

Andy Murray's impressive rise to number three in the world and his victory at Queen's Club have again raised hopes of British success at Wimbledon.

Murray has emerged as the main challenger to the dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and this summer may offer the Scot his best chance of glory at SW19.

World number one and sportsbook favourite Nadal is now confirmed absent with a knee injury, having recently suffered his first-ever defeat at the French Open at the hand of eventual runner-up, Robin Soderling.

Nadal's loss finally allowed Swiss maestro Federer to secure the glory at Roland Garros, completing a full set of Grand Slam victories and moving him level on 14 titles with Peter Sampras.

However, his efforts, both mental and physical, clearly took their toll as Federer skipped the Wimbledon warm-up tournament at Halle, where he had won five titles in a row.

He may also find motivation a little harder to come by after drawing level with Sampras, having been denied that honour by defeats to Nadal at Wimbledon and the Australian Open in recent times.

Surely then Murray is best-placed this year to take advantage of Nadal's absence and Federer's state of mind.

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His performances at Queen's were outstanding, as he didn't even lose a set in seeing off the likes of Mardy Fish, Juan Carlos Ferrero and in the final, James Blake.

However, his main problem will not be his opponent, but the overbearing pressure from the fans and the media, as they await a first British men's champion since Fred Perry took the title in 1936.

Novak Djokovic will be hoping that he can again challenge for a Grand Slam title, having struggled to build on his success at the 2008 Australian Open.

The Serb reached the final in Halle, before being beaten by a resurgent Tommy Haas, who will be a dangerous floater in the draw, having also come so close to knocking Federer out in Paris.

Andy Roddick's big serve always sees him hotly-tipped to impress at Wimbledon, but the two-times beaten finalist suffered an ankle injury at Queen's and seems unlikely to finally get his hands of the trophy.

Many of the other leading players in the world rankings are clay-court specialists, but the likes of Soderling and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga have the games required to do well.

Another youngster who has climbed the rankings as quickly as Murray is Croat Marin Cilic, who only lacks the match toughness needed to be a major contender.

This year is probably too soon for Cilic to go too far into the second week, but in future years he has the attributes to be a force on the hallowed grass.

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