- 7/2/2025
It's 2013 and Andy Murray sits on the precipice of either finally ending an extremely long sports drought ... or backsliding a whole nation into further torment. Before we see if Murray can finally win Great Britain its first Wimbledon men's singles title in over 70 years, we need to know how hard it's been to crack through the Federer-Nadal major monopoly in recent years, how Novak Djokovic pulled that off, and how Murray's chance to do the same isn't just massive for him, but for all of British men's tennis. We need to rewind.
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00:00It's June 7th, 2013. We're in London for the men's final of Wimbledon, and the people here
00:06cannot contain their excitement. Three-plus hours into a hot, punishing match, Andy Murray is serving
00:13for the championship against Novak Djokovic. It's a huge opportunity, but it's not the first time
00:20Murray's had this opportunity, and he, as much as anyone, understands how fast things can change.
00:26Before Murray puts this ball in play and maybe breaks the tension in this crowd, let's rewind.
00:35This video is presented by Stella Artois, a taste worth more.
00:40If you don't watch much men's tennis, I know what you're thinking.
00:44Where are the usual two guys? Isn't it always those two guys?
00:49Sort of, yeah. Every Wimbledon final since 2003 has featured at least one of what you might
00:55call the big two. 27-year-old Rafael Nadal and or 31-year-old Roger Federer. The last decade of
01:03Wimbledon winners goes Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Rafa, Roger, Rafa, oops, Roger.
01:11Zoom out to view all four tennis majors from 04 to like 2010, Australian Open, French Open,
01:17Wimbledon, and US Open, and you'll see a whole lot of the big two with only the occasional oops.
01:23There's a stretch in the middle there where Nadal always won in Paris and Federer always won the
01:29other three. It got repetitive. But then, here, in early 08, was a special one of those oopses.
01:36A 21-year-old from Serbia named Novak Djokovic, who'd broken out as Federer's runner-up in the 07 US Open,
01:43went on to win the Aussie Open. And then right back to business as usual, only with a little more
01:48Nadal mixed in with all the Federer. That was how it remained for a while. This kid Djokovic could
01:53proudly count himself among the gaggle of one-off major champions, briefly disrupting the Rafa-Roger
01:59gridlock. But then came 2011. Djokovic won in Australia again. He won here in London, stopping the
02:06big two's longest running hold on any major. And then Novak finished that 2011 major season with his
02:12first US Open trophy, completing three quarters of a Grand Slam. Djokovic hasn't repeated that exact
02:19level of entry-year dominance, but he's refused to budge in Melbourne, making it three straight
02:24Aussie Open titles with his win a few months back. That was his sixth major title in as many years.
02:30So, yes, you're right, the big two aren't here today. Rafael Nadal suffered a stunningly brisk
02:36first-round upset against a player ranked well outside the top 100. The first time that's ever
02:41happened to Rafa the major. That seemed to clear the bottom half of the bracket for Federer,
02:46but then he got got in similarly stunning fashion in the second round. Djokovic, meanwhile,
02:52cruised through the early rounds and survived his greatest test in the semifinal, a grueling back-and-forth
02:57five-setter with Juan Martin Del Potro. The point is, you can update your priors. This decade,
03:03the big two have made room for a third. Love that for them. Since 2010, one of Nadal, Federer,
03:10or Djokovic, has won every single major except, oops, yep, just the one. The only recent break from
03:17the big three was Andy Murray, the other guy on your screen. But he's not some alluring young
03:23newcomer popping into the mix. Murray, from Scotland, is the same age as Djokovic, but broke
03:30through much later. On the day in 08, when Novak won his first major in Melbourne, Murray had only a
03:37couple tour titles to his name and hadn't made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam event.
03:42By 2011, when Djokovic was making his magical run across the majors, Murray had settled into a
03:48frustratingly consistent also-ran status. Andy won some non-major titles and ranked as high as number
03:54two in the world, but that wasn't enough. He needed to make himself an interruption, an oops,
04:00at least once. That pressure only intensified Murray's rivalry with Djokovic. Entering 2012,
04:07Murray had beaten Djokovic plenty of times, including the finals of big events like Miami
04:11and Cincinnati, but never in a major. Djokovic smoked Murray in the 2011 Australian Open final.
04:18Murray seriously threatened that title the following year when he held a two-sets-to-one lead
04:23in the Melbourne semi-final, but he blew it. That's one of the most grueling, exciting matches
04:28in recent memory, and Murray had nothing to show for it. Finally, late last year, Andy's moment
04:34arrived. In the final of the U.S. Open, Murray gritted his teeth to win an interminable first set tie
04:41break, weathered a second set comeback, and then stomached two consecutive lost sets to finally win
04:47in five over Djokovic. It was the full Novak and Andy experience. All the drama, the full rollercoaster
04:54of hope and doom, except this time Murray outlasted his chief adversary and his own reputation.
05:01He became the lone island, oops, in the sea of big three. He vanquished Novak Djokovic on the biggest
05:07stage. He became a major champion. He also ended a long major drought for British men. What an
05:14accomplishment. And because life isn't fair, the question then became, all right, what next?
05:20What about Wimbledon? This would be something else entirely. You see this grassy area over here?
05:27The crowd here explains why today could be the real make or break for Andy Murray's legacy.
05:33The Wimbledon Gentleman's Championship has existed basically as long as tennis has existed.
05:39Since 1877, they've been playing this tournament, always here at the All England Club, and for a long
05:46time, always contested and won by Brits. Gradually, non-British people worked their way into the
05:52tournament and claimed some titles. And then in the mid-1930s, English-born Fred Perry collected
05:58three consecutive men's single titles back for the host country. And that is it. Since 1936,
06:05a stretch encompassing the entire Open era and then some, no British man has won Wimbledon.
06:11It's not like fans of British women's tennis have had it great, but their slump registers on the
06:16order of decades, not lifetimes. Anne Hayden Jones dominated the 1960s, and Virginia Wade won here at
06:23Wimbledon in 1977. Roger Taylor was the most successful British man at Wimbledon in the early Open era,
06:30but he never made it out of the semifinal. The 1990s brought some hope in the form of Gred Rusetsky,
06:36but he never made it past the quarterfinal. Following closely behind Rusetsky and eventually
06:41matching his world number four ranking was Tim Henman, a star out of Oxford who excelled on the
06:47grass court. Every year, for a span of the late 90s and early 2000s, Henman made at least one deep run in
06:53a major. Every year, Britain rallied behind him, and every year he stopped short of even playing in a
07:00major final. The Wimbledon results were particularly brutal. In 1998, Henman made the semifinal but went
07:07down against eventual champion Pete Sampras, extending a stretch of dominance for American men. In the 99
07:14semifinal, Henman took the first set off Sampras, then lost again. Sampras went on to make it three
07:19Wimbledon titles in a row. In 2000, Henman couldn't even make it that far, losing a long fourth round
07:26match to Marc Filipousis. 2001 presented Henman perhaps his best ever chance. Sampras went down
07:32early against some random teenager. So instead of a rematch, Henman's semifinal brought him up against
07:38wildcard Goran Ivanicevic. Over three days interrupted repeatedly by rain delays in front of teeming,
07:45frantic crowds of his countrymen. Henman worked two sets to one lead, lost a narrow fourth set tie
07:51break, and then went down in five. That marathon in 01 represented the most famous occupation of what
07:58came to be called Henman Hill, a slope outside court number one here at Wimbledon where fans without
08:03seats can congregate to watch matches on the big screen. They were here for Tim through wins and losses,
08:10rain and heat, sweating out one semifinal after another, and they got nothing to show for it.
08:16Tim Henman is a legend, and the greatest British player in recent memory, and he's around this week
08:22still basking in admiration, but he brought home zero major titles and not even a tournament-ending
08:28appearance here beside the hill that colloquially bears his name. Henman did not answer the prayers for a
08:34homegrown Wimbledon way. And that is where Andy comes in. As Henman's career faded, people were
08:41desperate for the next great British hope. When he was still just a teenager and had hardly any
08:47accomplishments to his name, Andy was their guy. Some Wimbledon attendees started calling that grassy
08:53slope Murray Mound instead of Henman Hill, and even Andy was like, holy shit, slow down. Andy's ranking
09:00ascended, but his performance at Wimbledon proved no better than Henman's. And Andy's pride in being
09:06Scottish specifically, not necessarily British, only complicated his relationship with fans.
09:12Before long, the Murray's Mound thing sounded more like a joke than an actual honor.
09:17Until last year. Andy even advancing to the last day of the tournament made him the first British
09:24men's Wimbledon finalist since 1938, when Bunny Austin was runner-up. For a moment, it seemed like
09:30Murray might do Bunny one better. He broke Federer immediately and went on to win the first set.
09:36The stadium was buzzing. The hill or mound or whatever was quaking. Those same break opportunities
09:43materialized in the second set, but Murray couldn't seize them. Federer took it 7-5, one set apiece.
09:49Early in the third set, it rained. Players and fans waited and waited and waited. And once play resumed,
09:58the match turned. Murray fell hard chasing a drop shot midway through that third set and seemed to
10:04unravel from that point on. Andy Murray went down in four. The fans on that hill, whatever you want to
10:10call it, sighed. Their defeated hero cried. Even making the final was a monumental accomplishment,
10:17but that lost opportunity stung. It was heartbreaking. But it also wasn't the end of
10:23Murray's breakthrough last year. In August, Murray had another big moment on this very court and he
10:29won. He defeated Federer in straight sets to take home gold in the men's tennis event of the London
10:34Olympics. It wasn't Wimbledon, but it was at Wimbledon and it was a huge deal. Weeks later,
10:41Murray's U.S. Open win that we talked about ended the no British men's titles since Perry's streak.
10:46Also a huge deal. Murray returned to Dunblane Scotland a hero. But as 2012 turned to 2013,
10:53the pressure resumed in a new, greater form. Murray wasn't a lovable loser anymore. He wasn't
10:59another Henman. He was a serious contender proven capable of beating the big three. So would his legacy
11:05be that of another oops, an exception to the rule? Or could he replicate Djokovic's breakthrough within
11:12a breakthrough a few years prior? Could there be, as some had already asserted, a big four?
11:18So far, 2013 has been more of the old Andy. Australia was business as usual. Murray gave
11:24everything he had to take down Federer in the semi-final, made the final against Djokovic,
11:29won the first set, and then splat. The months since have been a bit different. Murray's had a few good
11:34tournament runs and won the Miami Masters, but then his back started to act up. Andy skipped the
11:40French Open, his first major absence in six years. For most of the last month, he's been rehabilitating,
11:46reconditioning, and training in the heat of Miami to prepare for the conditions of London in June.
11:52Or, said differently, forget everything else. Andy's objective this year is to bring it home.
11:58He has been laser-focused on winning Wimbledon. Alongside the heat of the sun,
12:04Murray has had to face the heat of the spotlight. Brighter and brighter since Federer and Nadal bowed
12:09out of this tournament. Because, yeah, as established, today isn't just about winning another major.
12:16It isn't just about raising the possibility of a big four. It's about a British man doing what
12:22Henman and company couldn't. Winning Wimbledon. Keeping the grass crown at home for the first time
12:27in 77 years. The slump for Scottish players at Wimbledon is even longer. Harold Mahoney won it
12:34in 1896. And they are all home watching in Dublin. So far, so good. The first set was a straightforward
12:42Murray win, but we've seen that before. The second set brought us more of what we've seen before,
12:48namely Murray on the verge of a collapse. Djokovic broke serve first, then served with a chance to
12:54make it 5-2. Murray battled his way out of that situation with plays that made you wonder if he'd
13:00really turned a corner. Decisive, aggressive attacks like this backhand return winner,
13:05and this unbelievably sick forehand winner out of nowhere. All under pressure. This time,
13:11it was Novak who sputtered. He double faulted on breakpoint to let Murray back into the set.
13:16He biffed one into the net to let Murray pull ahead. Murray aced Djokovic to take the 2-0 lead
13:22he now holds. He has never been closer. But no one has had a chance to exhale. It just doesn't work
13:29that way for Murray, or for a Brit at Wimbledon. Andy's unforced error put him down 4-2 in this set,
13:35and the announcers could feel the fright in the air.
13:37Even after Murray broke back twice and pulled ahead 5-4 in this set, the terror did not subside.
13:48He's had three championship points in this game, and he blew them all.
13:52We've spent the last several minutes in that sickening teeter-totter ride only tennis can provide,
13:58alternating Murray chances to finish with Djokovic chances to break. This could end now,
14:04or Djokovic could claw back the momentum and, who knows, maybe drag this match out for another hour
14:10or two. Maybe drag this never-ending slump for Brits at Wimbledon into another year.
14:15The tension, in here and out there, is unbearable. Andy Murray and Great Britain have never been
14:22closer to one of the most emotional moments in tennis history. Backsliding from this precipice would
14:28hurt more than anything ever has. Please just finish this, Andy. Welcome to a moment in history.
14:44The waiting is over!
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