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Andy Murray sent crashing out of Wimbledon by Grigor Dimitrov Andy Murray sent crashing out of Wimbledon by Grigor Dimitrov
(about 3 hours later)
Andy Murray’s defence of his Wimbledon crown ended on Wednesday after he was beaten in straight sets by Grigor Dimitrov on Centre Court. By the day, almost by the hour, the cracks in the edifice of modern tennis are widening. Andy Murray, playing his worst match here in several years, followed the world No1 Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon on Wednesday in three sets that detained young Grigor Dimitrov barely two hours on Centre Court while on an adjacent battlefield the favourite Novak Djokovic needed all five sets to get rid of the No26 seed Marin Cilic.
Murray had dominated each of his opponents en route to the quarter-final but he was totally outplayed by the impressive Bulgarian and lost 6-1, 7-6, 6-2. After the high of last year, when he ended Fred Perry’s 77-year reign as the last British man to win the singles title, this was a sad way for the third seed to bow out. This is getting serious – but Murray might have most to worry about. Against a rising star who played with the same lack of fear the Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios showed in dispatching Nadal on Tuesday, Murray had no answers, and the Bulgarian won with alarming ease: 6-1, 7-6, 6-2.
Murray never managed to find anything like his best form while Dimitrov, seeded 11, played an inspired match to reach his first grand slam semi-final. The defeat ended Murray’s 17-match winning streak at the All England Club and was his first grand slam defeat to a player ranked outside the top 10 in four years. Dimitrov will now leapfrog Murray into the top 10, with the Scot slipping to 10th for the first time in six years. It is not a full-scale crisis but there must be concern in his camp, given he has not won a tournament since he beat Djokovic in the final here a year ago.
This was the match-up that created excitement when the draw was made – defending champion against tennis’ pin-up boy. Touted as “Baby Federer” and one half of the sport’s glamour couple with Maria Sharapova, Dimitrov has been making headlines on the court over the past year. The tough Australian coach Roger Rasheed has helped the 23-year-old develop the physical side of his game to go with his exceptional racquet skills. He has recovered fully from back surgery last September and his coach, Amélie Mauresmo, seems to have settled in well in the few weeks they have worked together. They will decide over the next few days whether or not to make their short-term arrangement more permanent, and Murray sounded later as if he would like it to continue. It would be a blow if Mauresmo did not think so too, given the crushing effect on the player of Ivan Lendl’s sudden departure in March. Still, by Murray’s own blunt admission after the quarter-final, Dimitrov, was “the better player from start to finish”.
He made a tentative start to his first Wimbledon quarter-final but Murray was unable to take advantage of a break point and he was made to pay in remarkable fashion. From 1-1, Dimitrov won the final five games of the set, barely missing a ball while a nervy Murray could not find the form that had carried him to the last eight for the loss of only 32 games. Murray won only three out of every 10 second serves, three of his five double faults came in the weary conclusion and robbed of consistent potency with ball in hand, he had to scrap for every point. He blinked in the face of heavy, quality fire, although he took his licks pretty well.
Being behind at Wimbledon was not an unfamiliar position for Murray, who at the same stage last year trailed Fernando Verdasco by two sets before fighting back to win. Perhaps the scoreline was not too surprising given their respective seasons – Dimitrov having won three titles, including his triumph at Queen’s two weeks ago, while Murray has not made a final since having back surgery last September. He has also not beaten a top-10 player since last year’s Wimbledon final victory over Novak Djokovic. Dimitrov looked so much more confident and he broke for the first time in the second set for 4-3. Playing as if invaded by some foreign virus that had drained his tennis brain and paralysed his normally smooth movement over the grass of his favourite tournament, he could not resist Dimitrov’s educated power and sharp, well-hidden switches of direction that kept him guessing in every exchange. At times, Dimitrov really did look like Roger Federer, to whom he has been compared for so long. “Andy is a friend,” Dimitrov said. “It’s a tough feeling when you know the person outside of the court. But I have more matches to play and I’m going to just prepare for the next one.”
Murray played his best point of the match to save one break point but on the second he served a 93mph first serve and then erred with a horrible backhand slice. He looked towards his support camp with arms held wide as if looking for answers, and he found them in the next game, with some help from his opponent. At Dimitrov’s age, 23, Murray had made a significant move, ranked No4 at the height of the Federer-Nadal hegemony, and he had already played in a slam final, losing to Federer in New York. But Dimitrov has been a classic late developer, the owner of only four titles. He has never been in a hurry, either in the shot or advancing on the game’s elite.
Having been rock solid, Dimitrov’s backhand let him down, allowing Murray to level straight away at 4-4. Centre Court held its collective breath at 30-30 in the next game as the pair pulled each other all over the court in a 31-stroke rally. Murray won it, and then served an ace to hold, but the pressure was relentless and he needed two big serves to save break points at 5-5. A tie-break would settle it, and it was Dimitrov who made the first meaningful move with a backhand pass to lead 5-4. A delightful drop volley gave the Bulgarian two set points, and he took the first as a desperate attempt at a pass from Murray found the net. The question mark was: could he handle the pressure of his second slam quarter-final against a member of the Big Four? He had almost beaten Nadal at this stage in Melbourne but when he took 10 serves to get on the board at the start, and was forced to save a break point, we wondered. And when Murray held to love it was tempting to imagine this might set the tone of the match. It did not quite go that way.
Murray has come back from two sets to love to win matches seven times but against a player playing at Dimitrov’s level, it was a seriously tall order to do it again.Dimitrov’s defence had been exceptional, more evidence of the improvements made under Rasheed, who Murray came close to hiring in 2011 before opting for Ivan Lendl. What Dimitrov has in abundance is self-belief just short of arrogance and it was adventure that got him the break in the fourth game. He was hitting his shots crisply and forcing Murray to shift uneasily side to side.
Things went from bad to worse for Murray when, from 40-15, he lost four points in a row to drop serve at 3-2 behind, ending on a double fault. He looked a beaten man, and another double fault gave Dimitrov a first match point after exactly two hours. Murray saved that with one of his best forehands of the match but then netted a forehand to hand Dimitrov an unexpected but thoroughly deserved victory. When Dimitrov held to love for 4-1 his confidence soared and he had Murray suffering in the next game, the Scot pushing two slack forehands into the net from deep for the second break. Dimitrov, buzzing now, sealed the set with a smash at the net. Murray was in deep trouble.
Murray sat disconsolately in his chair before trudging off alongside Dimitrov, pausing to bow to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in the royal box and wave to the crowd, who cheered their fallen hero He kept eight out of 10 service returns in court during that blitz but too often fell back on his old default mindset of grind rather than risk – and Dimitrov punished him for his negativity. The challenge for the champion was to get a grip on this runaway thoroughbred; the Bulgarian’s task was to keep Murray guessing about the speed, depth and angle of his ground strokes.
It took Murray five games into the second set to find his feet properly, moving with more assuredness behind a serve that briefly clicked, despite a couple of double faults. They swapped breaks but Murray needed more than parity.
He had to rattle Dimitrov, somehow make him feel uncomfortable on the big stage. But his tormentor was playing exuberant, irresistible tennis. All the anxiety was with Murray – and it mounted when, forced deep again, he netted a backhand. He somehow scrambled to deuce and delighted in forcing Dimitrov to chase in vain from one side of the court to the other to go 6-5 up. For the first time in the match Dimitrov, behind in the serving cycle, was under points pressure. He held to force the tie-break.
In a tense duel, the world No13 produced a glorious passing shot then a sublime drop volley to grab a two-set lead. Murray has come back to win from two sets down on seven occasions. Not this time.
When he went 4-2 behind in the third, the will seemed to leave him. Even with Dimitrov slipping on the dusty turf behind the baseline, Murray found himself unable to put the ball away in one rally in the seventh game – and needed a double fault by the Bulgarian to retain a sliver of hope. But he continued to slice long and bash wide, squandering one opportunity after another and with the clock ticking towards the second hour, he had to hold to stay in the tournament.
The crowd desperately wanted him to survive, but he was doing little to encourage their slim hopes. Mauresmo must have been as bemused as everyone in the house when he hit his fifth double fault to hand Dimitrov two match points. He saved the first with a forehand that dipped inside the deuce corner – and then lashed a final, limp effort into the middle of the net. It was a tame surrender – such a contrast to his efforts here a year ago – but a memorable day for Dimitrov and all those who believe he might have the stuff of greatness about him.