Wimbledon Takeaway #9: British hopefuls fall short

A peculiarly scorching sun had its way with the Wimbledon grass over this fortnight. But the sun also sets. Here, our ongoing roundup of passing shots from SW19, a curated much-ado-about-everything – if a bit less manicured than the Wimble-lawns themselves.

See No. 10.

9

For the top home-country hopefuls in singles at this Wimbledon, there were two sides to the book.

Pop and rock stars came out for Johanna Konta, all but willing her into the title match. It wasn’t to be, as Venus Williams had other plans, but the show of support from famous compatriots was unlike any a British woman has enjoyed in many years–because it’s been that long since a native made such an inspired run.

Konta knew what she was getting into, appropriately reverent about Williams, and her sister, ahead of that marquee match-up, but not fazed by the moment or the venue:

Even so, consider that Konta was embattled early on, when she defeated Donna Vekic by a 10-8 count well before Williams took her out.

For Andy Murray, a defending singles champ, this Wimbledon was woeful from a physical perspective. While he might have relished the support of celebrated and royalty-adjacent folks such as Pippa Middleton and a host of others present for his matches, he never looked incredibly sure on his feet for as long as he stuck around. A quarterfinal finish was about the best he could ask for, frankly.

With his stylish wife Kim watching, he slogged through one match after another, before sputtering out in the quarterfinal round against a focused Sam Querrey, who took the final two sets by the uncharacteristic-for-Murray scores of 6-1, 6-1. 

In the end, his best shots were reserved for the media–and his best moments, for the fans.

Indeed, Murray and Rafael Nadal found themselves signing a prosthetic leg, produced by a beaming man, after their Centre Court matches:

At the least, Murray–and Novak Djokovic like him, who actually retired from his quarterfinal—might consider some time away to heal. Heal and come back, lean and mean, in the U.S. Open Series sprint to New York.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.