Andy Murray admits his biggest memory from winning his first Wimbledon title in 2013 is “just relief” because he fears he would have been regarded as a “failure” without claiming his home Grand Slam.
The Scot ended the 77-year wait for a British male singles champion on an unforgettable sunny afternoon in SW19.
But after losing the 2012 final to Roger Federer, Novak Djkovovic threatened to ruin the home script again when he saved three match points in an epic final game – and then had three break points to bring the third set back level.
The nerve-shredding finale summed up Murray’s fraught career for all his fans.
But when Serb slapped a backhand into the net on the fourth match point, the Centre Crowd erupted with joy – and Murray pumped his fists to the press box in celebration before embracing the gracious Djokovic and kneeling on grass.
He then did a Goran Ivanisevic and climbed into his player’s box to embrace his then girlfriend Kim, his coaching team – and his mum Judy. He had followed in Fred Perry’s footsteps and ended the British jinx at The Championships.
But looking back on the magical day 10 years later, Murray said his over-riding emotion now is not joy or happiness or jubilation.
“It is just relief,” he smiled. “Probably about five or six days after the final, it started to sink in and I started to enjoy it. I went away on holiday with my wife, we went to Barbados. It was just the two of us who went away. I was able to start processing everything. The few days building up to the final and then the days after the final, I found that all unbelievably stressful and really, really tiring. There was just relief.
“I do genuinely believe that a lot of people would have viewed my career as being a failure had I not managed to win Wimbledon. Yeah, it was sort of one of those things where it was obviously amazing to win Wimbledon but it had almost been built up to me.
