Murray faces Wimbledon burden

Oh, Andy Murray what have you done? Set all England aflutter that you may be the Wimbledon one.

As if the weight of home expectation wasn't already heavy enough, the third-ranked Brit committed the schoolboy error of winning his first grass-court title just one week before Wimbledon starts next Monday.

Cue giant British anticipation. Almost inevitably, the hype will end as it always does - in British tears.

Or will it?

Don't say this too loud, but Murray, for once, might be the real deal.

Not in a long, long time has a British man rolled up in his Wimbledon whites with such legitimate hopes of winning tennis' oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam.

The 22-year-old from Dunblane, Scotland, is fitter and wiser than he was a year ago, when eventual champion Rafael Nadal ousted him 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 from the quarterfinals without facing a single break point.

Grass is not Murray's best surface. But his ranking is at a career high and he's the only top 10 player to have beaten both Nadal and Roger Federer, the world's top two, this year.

The big question is with the eyes of a nation upon him, how will he cope?

Trains still burned coal, "Gone With The Wind" had just hit bookstores, and cheesy singer Engelbert Humperdinck was only two months old when a British man last won Wimbledon.

Since that time, Australians have had the pleasure of seeing homegrown heroes like Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver triumph at their major. American champions too numerous to mention - John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi etc. - have spoiled US Open fans. France had Yannick Noah winning at Roland Garros in 1983, a victory the Frenchman has since parlayed into a career as a singer.

And the Brits? They have only poorly exposed black and white photos and scratchy film of Fred Perry, their last men's champion back in ... wait for it ... 1936.

So, Andy, no pressure or anything, but could you put Britain out of its misery?

Federer said his nerves almost overwhelmed him when he triumphed at the French Open final this month. It was the only major the Swiss master had yet to win. The last game, serving for the trophy, "was almost unplayable for me," Federer said later.

So imagine Murray in the same position on Centre Court, Wimbledon, history turning his insides to mush. Who wouldn't crack?

And the delirium should he win. It might not eclipse 1966, when England last won the football World Cup, but it would be close.

"Henman Hill" - where Wimbledon crowds once gathered to cheer and have their hearts broken by the last British hope, Tim Henman - would be forever re-baptised.

Clever advertisers are giving us a foretaste. A TV spot running ahead of Wimbledon shows Britons huddled around their televisions on championship point and then erupting in joy.

"It will happen again," the narrator intones.

Nadal's rickety knees have deprived him of a Wimbledon warm-up. Even if the Spaniard recovers for next week, he might not be at his physical peak.

Five-time champion Federer could be whipped on by the opportunity to become the first man to win 15 majors, breaking his current tie with Sampras, or still be drained by his French Open emotions. He skipped his usual grass-court warm-up tournament in Germany last week to recover.

But Murray triumphed on grass at Queen's Club, the first Briton to win that Wimbledon tune-up since Bunny Austin in 1938. Eight times in the past 30 years, the Queen's winner became the Wimbledon champion. Admittedly, the Queen's field, missing all but six of the world's top 20 players, wasn't very strong. Nevertheless, Murray didn't lose a set all week.

Henman, who reached four semifinals, says he used to thrive on the wild support he got at Wimbledon. Murray will get that boost, too. Even James Bond himself, Scottish actor Sean Connery, has cheered him on in the past.

Murray is a more aggressive and edgier player than Henman ever was, with a stronger can-do mentality. His serious, sometimes dour, attitude should also help him weather the off-court buzz.

"I don't know how many times I'm going to have to say this the next week, but for the people that sit and read the papers and that write the papers and do the bits on TV and on radio, you can get caught up in it if you want to," Murray said after Queen's.

"I'm not planning on getting caught up in the whole hype and, you know, the pressure and whatnot," he added, "because I don't think that that helps."

AP