Andy Murray will compete in his third grand slam final on Sunday when he takes on Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Let's hope it goes better than his two previous attempts.
US Open 2008 - Federer beat Murray 6-2 7-5 6-2
Andy Murray’s first appearance in a grand slam final, at the 2008 US Open, went by so quickly that he can hardly remember a thing. “That first final I played against Federer, I didn’t know what was going on. It just went by really quickly,” Murray recalled.
Federer had the advantage of a day’s rest before the final, which, because of the rain at Flushing Meadows, was played on an unscheduled third Monday.
Murray’s semi-final victory over Rafael Nadal was spread over a couple of days, having started on Super Saturday and finished on Sunday, while Federer had completed his win over Novak Djokovic on Saturday.
Yet, even if they had both had similar preparation for the final, Federer would almost certainly still have beaten Murray at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Murray was playing an opponent whose victory made him the first man since Bill Tilden in 1924 to win five consecutive US Open titles (Tilden won six in succession from 1920 and 1925), as well as the first to win two different slams five times in a row, having already achieved a golden five on Centre Court at the All England Club.
Murray, who was the first British man to appear in a slam final since Greg Rusedski finished as the runner-up to Pat Rafter at the 1997 US Open, was beaten in straight sets.
Australian Open 2010 - Federer beat Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6
Roger Federer suggested before last year’s Australian Open final that Andy Murray would be attempting to become Britain’s first male winner of a grand slam for “around 150,000 years”.
That was bettered by Murray’s remark during the post-final ceremonies. A year after Federer had broken down after a five-set defeat to Rafael Nadal, and told the crowd on the Rod Laver Arena, “God, it’s killing me”, Murray also lost control of his bottom lip during his thank-you speech.
Murray might have lost another grand slam final in straight sets to Federer, yet he still had something to add to the evening and he returned to the microphone, his eyes pink and puffy, and said: “I can cry like Roger, it’s a pity I can’t play like him.”
Perhaps, if Murray had taken the third set — he held a 5-2 lead in games, and could not convert any one of his five points for the tiebreak — this could have ended very differently.
As it was, Federer stood on the podium holding his sixteenth grand slam trophy and Murray sobbed into the mike. The tears, and the self-deprecating humour, would have done much to soften Murray’s image, though.
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