Andy Murray has won Wimbledon – and in style

It’s been 77 years – and the wait is over. There a few sporting British sporting ambitions greater than winning Wimbledon- few sports Brits seem to be habitually so underwhelming at.

Fred Perry was the last winner in 1936 – is now joined by Andy Murray in 2013. And not only did he do it,  but he did it in style.

Straight sets and emphatically,  against Novak Djokovic- a player that defines the new breed of world class tennis players, as he is athletic and technically faultless.  Surely this is a new era  for  Andy Murray  -Wimbledon champion.

So what made the difference? Well,  his coach for a start.  Ivan Lendl, former no1 and multiple Grand Slam winner – gave Murray the added belief. 

And compare Murray to the previous great British hopes – Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski. There is no doubt Murray is a better player, a fitter player and a phenomenal athlete.

And that famous dour mentality- it’s oft been said, show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser. Murray hates losing. Also – recall that Murray perfected his tennis overseas – boarded at a tennis academy from age 15, and he now lives in the USA. 

Hs a proud Scot, and all of Britain will be toasting his success – but what we saw out there tonight is not a product of the British tennis system.

Indeed there are lessons for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) – it gets £10m a year in public money – nearer £40m via proceeds from Wimbledon.

Yet 77 years is a very long time to wait for one of the best funded tennis programmes in the world to produce a male champion. Compare that to Poland for example.  It had three quarter-finalists this year in the men’s and women’s draws, and what is its annual budget? Around £1m.

Last year the LTA were fined for not improving grass roots participation i.e finding the source of tomorrow’s champions.

They will soon have a new chief executive, who has a big job – how to harness this and turn it into future success.

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