Andy Murray admits only his perfect game will be good enough to defeat six-time champion Roger Federer in Sunday’s Wimbledon final and become Britain’a first men’s champion in 76 years. The 25-year-old Scot, the first Briton in the final since Bunny Austin in 1938, is desperate to be the home country’s first champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
But standing in his way is 30-year-old Federer, the 16-time Grand Slam title winner written off as a spent-force by many in the sport, but who can equal Pete Sampras’s record of seven Wimbledon triumphs on Sunday. Victory would also put Federer, who knocked out defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, back on top of the world rankings after a two-year absence. Murray leads Federer 8-7 in career meetings, but the great Swiss has won their only meetings in Grand Slam finals — the 2008 US Open and 2010 Australian Open.
“I just need to try and make sure I play a perfect match on Sunday,” said Murray, who reached the final with a four-set win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. “It obviously would be very nice (to beat Federer), but I can’t allow myself to think that far ahead. I’ll just focus on getting the tactics right. “There’s obviously going to be nerves and pressure, but I need to try and stay focused.”
Murray has been desperately close to the final in the last three years, but came up short in the semi-finals, losing to Andy Roddick in 2009 and then suffering back-to-back losses to Rafael Nadal, a shock second round casualty this year. Murray believes he can thrive on being the underdog against Federer who will be playing in a record eighth Wimbledon final. “He’s one of the greatest ever players. He’s been doing it consistently over a number of years. The matches he has lost the last couple of years were five sets against Tsonga (2011), five sets against Berdych (2010), five sets against Rafa. He’s very, very tough to beat here,” he added.
