On a gloomy day at Wimbledon, Andy Murray's immediate future looks bright
"Why can’t he go on and win it?" said Ryan Peniston, after taking a one-sided loss to the two-time champion.
WATCH: Murray Talks Opening Win, Gets Thumbs Up From Federera
LONDON—We love to mark sporting anniversaries and this year at Wimbledon is one for Andy Murray, who dispatched Ryan Peniston 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 in front of Roger Federer in rainy London on Tuesday.
“Brilliant to have him around the event,” Murray said of the retired Federer, who watched alongside the Princess of Wales after being feted on his Centre Court return.
“I'm pretty sure he will be around the sport a lot. I know he loves tennis. And, yeah, great to have him back here.”
Murray continues to play, and it was 20 years ago that the Scot contested the Wimbledon juniors as the 10th seed and lost his opener to Germany’s Peter Steinberger. According to the Herald Scotland, Steinberger’s compatriot, Boris Becker, handed him a lucky coin which he kept in his pocket during the 6-4, 6-4 win.
Murray was quoted as saying by The Guardian afterwards: “I underestimated my opponent, and I was lazy. There's no excuse. I have to grow up a bit and make sure it doesn't happen again.”
He has grown up at Wimbledon.
For most Britons, Murray’s tennis evolution is seen largely only through the Wimbledon lens despite the tennis tour being 10-months plus. Once the grass swing ends, tennis plays second (or third, fourth or fifth) fiddle.
The 36-year-old began his senior Wimbledon tenure half his life ago in 2005 by downing Federer’s compatriot George Bastl—who upended Pete Sampras at SW19 in 2002. An upstart with tremendous potential yet also still getting to grips with tennis’ physicality, Murray reached the third round, but wilted in the last three sets of his five-set match with 2002 finalist David Nalbandian.
Starting that Wimbledon as a wild card ranked 312th, by the time the next Championships rolled around the Scot rocketed to 44th. Murray Mania engulfed the UK as the ingenu became a serious contender forever intertwined with Fred Perry. He would, though, suffer heartbreak at the hands of Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Federer.
That was before 2013—the Wimbledon anniversary most everyone refers to this year as it relates to Murray. He toppled the now invincible-looking Novak Djokovic in the finale with coach Ivan Lendl in his corner as he is now.
A second title ensued in 2016, prior to hip woes surfacing in a quarterfinal loss to Sam Querrey, before intensifying. So much so that Murray initially planned to retire at Wimbledon in 2019. His hunger to continue led him to undergo hip resurfacing.
An abdominal injury then blighted last year’s Wimbledon preparation.
But Murray entered this year’s Wimbledon mostly on a high, winning back-to-back Challengers on grass. He seemed to benefit from a gentle opening round draw, too, since British wild card Peniston came in ranked 268th.
Sure enough, Murray and his slightly tweaked service motion overcame early jitters—saving break points in his second and third service games—to advance in two hours and one minute under the roof.
What a relief it must have been for him, countering the tumult of recent opening matches at Slams.
Of his previous 10 such outings, five went the distance, and three others stretched to four sets. He lost thrice, although he saved a match point against Matteo Berrettini at the Australian Open in January to kickstart an eventful week’s stay in Melbourne.
“What happened and has happened at a lot of the majors that I played in the last few years, I’ve had lots of pretty long matches early on in the tournament,” Murray said. “Yes, you can recover from them, but it's not like I had a really long match in the first round and the next one has been like straightforward. I've had multiple long matches one after another.
“Any time you get the chance to finish a match quickly and can conserve some energy is a really positive thing.”
Peniston did have a moment to savor, however, at 0-2 in the third set when he prevailed in a 31-shot rally. The left-hander implored the fans to applaud, Carlos Alcaraz style. Peniston deserved his Centre Court moment more than most after being diagnosed with cancer as a one-year-old.
The Federer fan later said Murray could go all the way.
“Why can’t he go on and win it?” Peniston asked.
That must be the dream scenario for Murray, who hasn’t reached the second week at any major since 2017 Wimbledon.
Why can’t he go on and win it? Ryan Peniston
“I'm playing well enough to beat most of the players, I think, in the draw if I play well,” he said. “Physically, I feel good. Yeah, physically I feel absolutely fine right now.”
The weather gods likely did him a favor.
Stefanos Tsitsipas or Dominic Thiem meet Murray in the second round, but their headline match won’t be completed until Wednesday—and might still have a way to go, especially if the favorite rallies. Tsitsipas, seeded fifth, lost the first set 6-3 but leads on serve in the second set, 4-3. The winner thus will be forced to play on back-to-back days.
Murray’s Tuesday couldn’t have gone much better—and he presumably didn’t need a lucky charm.