TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN:THE SPANISH journalist who inspired tittering among colleagues when he asked Andy Murray why he did not seem to be thoroughly enjoying his moment of triumph after beating a shattered Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6, 3-0 to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open had inadvertently, perhaps, struck upon the Scot's modus operandi.
From a British perspective there was much to get excited about. Here was a representative of an island of tennis losers two matches away from emulating Fred Perry’s so-distant triumph in a major 74 years ago. A player near the peak of his youthful powers and who is scaring what is left of this field had just beaten the number two player in tennis, a minor genius with six grand slam titles to his name and fire in his eyes.
Murray, though, would not be shifted from his island of calm. For him this was another win, another press conference. “You just get used to doing it,” he said politely of the ritual. “I don’t get excited about them any more.”
Murray needed no reminding after clinically breaking down the exquisite challenge of the Spaniard that to get his hands on the elusive prize he has still to beat the 14th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic – who had earlier survived a grinding quarter-final against the American number seven seed, Andy Roddick – and, in all probability, overcome Roger Federer in the final on Sunday. This, he knew, was no time for premature celebration.
Murray, once so emotional, has honed his spirit astutely in five years on the circuit and learned to regard the expectations of a nation as if they were the remote worries of others rather than pressing concerns of his own. And it is, indeed, difficult to tell if he is enjoying an internal party in his head or quietly thinking of his next move.
He saves his passion for the court and how it flowed in the Rod Laver Arena against Nadal. No match in the tournament – even that featuring their own Lleyton Hewitt and Federer the previous evening – had created quite the same level of anticipation among the cognoscenti. Nobody expected Hewitt to beat Federer – except maybe Hewitt. This was different. This was the most even contest of the tournament.
Nadal brought energy and excitement, not to mention vulnerability which flared three games into the third set, as his chronic tendinitis, or unrelated and passing trauma, immobilised his throbbing right knee.
Before that retirement, though, at least up to the latter stages of the second set, it had been a wonderful fight, one fit for the presence of Ricky Hatton, who sat courtside at a tennis match for the first time.
The former world light-welterweight and welterweight champion, holidaying in Australia with his partner Jennifer Dooley, later spoke to Murray, a serious boxing fan. Hatton had planned to leave Melbourne for Sydney on Friday. He will watch tomorrow’s semi-final, though, and said: “If he reaches the final, I might have to postpone Sydney.” There will be a lot of cancelled appointments if Murray gets to the final, the first Briton to do so here since John Lloyd in 1977.
In two and a half hours of flickering drama Murray first felt the power of Nadal’s ferocious ground strokes, countering cautiously from the back of the court, before venturing in behind his serve once the first set was secure.
Murray served nervously to take the set 6-3, going 15-40 down then finding some rhythm on his first serve. The second set was another slugfest, Nadal holding the edge early before serving his first game to love to level at 2-2. The set went with serve – stopping only for the pyrotechnics at 3-3 – before Nadal broke serve. Murray broke back.
Nadal held serve at 5-5 but only after slipping at the baseline. This, though, was not when he aggravated his knee injury; he said later that he hurt it running for a drop shot. Murray breezed through the tie-break and was on top in the third when Nadal, grimacing, retired.
The Spaniard rightly deflected speculation about his future but it does not look promising.
Nadal spoke later like a fighter who had to quit on his stool. “I felt pain still, with no chance to do anything.” He had played on in similar circumstances last year but he was not, he said, going to make the same mistake. “I go to the limit but not cross the limit, no?”
There was no point. Murray was in charge before the injury. He ruled all areas of the contest, from the serve to the increasingly one-sided exchanges at the net.
Guardian Service
MELBOURNE RESULTS
MEN'S SINGLES:Quarter-finals: (14) Marin Cilic (Cro) bt (7) Andy Roddick (USA) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 3-6 2-6 6-3, (5) Andy Murray (Brit) bt (2) Rafael Nadal (Spa) 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 3-0 ret.
WOMEN'S SINGLES:Quarter-finals: Justine Henin (Bel) bt (19) Nadia Petrova (Rus) 7-6 (7-3) 7-5, Jie Zheng (Chn) bt Maria Kirilenko (Rus) 6-1 6-3.
