TENNIS:IT WAS too much to ask for Andy Murray to reproduce the fabulous tennis with which he graced the Queen's Club on Saturday but, on the evidence of his three-sets win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the rain-delayed final of the Aegon Championships, the Scot looks in good shape a week ahead of Wimbledon. He is in what Heather Watson a couple of weeks ago called, "Happy Land".
Murray did not hit his ground strokes with the same assuredness as when destroying Andy Roddick in the semi-final, certainly early in the match, and his serve dipped. But he was in a good mood in a carnival atmosphere and, when under pressure, found the shots and angles to take the Frenchman out.
Tsonga, going for a ping pong-tennis double over Murray after their frustrating wait in the players’ lounge during most of sodden Sunday, didn’t quite have the consistency to stretch the world number four when they finally got on to the grass, but there were moments when both players touched the heights.
Murray’s 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 win over the Frenchman in two hours and 25 minutes was a sound rather than outstanding workout. Considering he came here with the intention of testing his sore right ankle rather than going flat out to win the title for a second time, Murray had a good week – and he illuminated his performance with two breathtaking trick shots.
In the 12th game of the second set, Tsonga had Murray pinned behind the baseline and struggling to manufacture a reply. Murray, without a hint of premeditation, swung the racket behind his back and through his legs to send a decent shot back.
Tsonga, posted at the net, had to stretch for the reply but had enough delicacy on his stop volley for a winner to hold serve and take it to a tie-break.
There were some terrific exchanges in that passage of play, too, as Murray cranked out an early ace and belted a couple of glorious winners, finishing off the tie-break 7-2 with a measured, swinging serve.
Murray’s zenith of artistry, though, arrived at a point when most players would be content to grind out the result – especially when a game up in a final – rather than pleasing themselves.
Leading 4-3 in the final set after breaking Tsonga in the fifth game, Murray played a shot you might see in a circus. Tsonga slid a delicious forehand low across the net at his feet and, without breaking stride, Murray again took his racket behind his back, this time picking the ball up, blind, on the half-volley through his legs and caressing it at an acute angle for the most exquisite drop shot of this or any other week.
Tsonga smiled. The crowd went barmy. Murray said later: “I got my feet a bit messed up. I do it some times in practice but I’ve never done it in a match before. And might never again.”
What it showed, apart from his extraordinary flexibility, was how relaxed Murray was, the 24-year-old very much “in the moment”.
This was not the Murray who easily dismissed Roddick in straight sets on Saturday, but his competent tennis and his commitment to fight out of difficult situations gave him the stamp of a champion.
Serving for the match at 5-4 he held to love, finishing with an almost pedestrian, risk-free smash.
Earlier it had been a much tighter struggle. Tsonga had a purple patch in the middle of the first set that threatened to crush Murray completely, pulling off some acrobatic saves that left his opponent nonplussed.
The world number 19 broke Murray in the sixth game with glorious passing shots, dug deep for some desperate gets when Murray came back at him in the next game and fought hard again, from deuce, to hold at 6-3.
In a more even second set, Tsonga saved four break points to hold at 4-4, but Murray was coming at him strongly and, while there was not exactly an inevitability to the course of the match, Tsonga collapsed a little in the tie-break.
Tsonga could only say: “Today was difficult for me, but Andy was just too good. I’ll try to beat him next time.”
