LONDON, July 10, 2016
Andy Murray claimed his second Wimbledon trophy with a 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 win over Milos Raonic on Sunday. The world number two sent down seven aces, hitting 39 winners to prevail in two hours and 48 minutes.
“I feel happier this time,” Murray said. “I feel more content this time. I feel like this was sort of more for myself more than anything, and my team as well. We’ve all worked really hard to help get me in this position.
“Last time it was just pure relief, and I didn’t really enjoy the moment as much, whereas I’m going to make sure I enjoy this one more than the others. You just kind of get dragged in all sorts of different directions afterwards. I want to spend this time with my family and my closest friends, the people that I work with. That’s who I want to be around right now. I’ll make sure I spend a lot of time with them over the next couple of days. Yeah, look forward to that.”
The first Canadian man to ever appear in a Grand Slam singles final said it was a phenomenal two weeks.
“I stepped up in a semifinal that twice I struggled in in the past,” said Raonic, who previously made two other semifinals at the Australian Open in January and Wimbledon two years ago. “I stepped up. I did a great thing there. Came back from two sets to love down, which is a first time for me. I showed guts. I showed vigour. I’ve got to carry that through to the next events.”
Despite the loss, Raonic made history by reaching the final. The 25-year-old has been re-writing the Canadian tennis record books since his first big breakthrough on the pro circuit, when he made the fourth round of the Australian Open in 2011. A few months later, he became the highest-ranked Canadian man ever in singles by reaching world No. 37, a mark he has continually broken to a current career-high of No. 4 – the only Canadian, male or female, to be ranked Top 4 in singles. He was the first Canadian man in the Open Era to make a Grand Slam singles quarter-final at Roland Garros in 2014, and Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon in 2014. He is also only the second Canadian to play in a Slam singles final after Eugenie Bouchard was Wimbledon finalist in 2014.
“A big thank you,” Raonic said in response to what he would say to Canadian fans. “It’s not just the support here, it’s the support through numerous weeks wherever I go to play tennis. The appreciation for tennis in Canada has considerably grown, just for Canadians in general all over the world. There’s always a big contingency, a big showing up. It’s a great honour to have that kind of support.”
With his 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Australian Alex De Minaur in the boys’ final, No. 5-seeded Denis Shapovalov joined Eugenie Bouchard (2012 Wimbledon) and Filip Peliwo (2012 Wimbledon and 2012 US Open) as Canadian singles winners at junior Slams. The victory marked his 12thin a row as he entered the event fresh off a title at a big pre-Wimbledon junior tournament in Roehampton. It is his second junior Grand Slam title as he and fellow Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (Montreal) clinched the Junior US Open doubles trophy last September.
The two young Canadians were actually one set from also capturing the Junior Wimbledon doubles crown on Sunday, but Shapovalov and 15-year-old Auger-Aliassime were stopped 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to No. 2 seeds Kenneth Raisma of Estonia and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
“Canadian tennis is moving forward a lot,” Shapovalov said. “Hopefully it doesn’t stop here. Even the next generation can see it’s possible and start working hard and we will have more Grand Slam champions in the future.”
