? Scot came back from two sets down in 2008
? But this year he is still a touch short of his best
Some memories linger longer than others and for Andy Murray the afternoon he flexed his bicep for the Wimbledon faithful after coming from two sets down to beat Richard Gasquet three years ago is one he will not easily forget.
He was reminded of it after seeing off Ivan Ljubicic in four sets on Friday night and he will think of it again, no doubt, when he walks on to Centre Court to face Gasquet in the fourth round on Monday.
For Murray and for the British public the bicep moment was a minor rite of passage, a gauche yet endearing effort by the young Scot to tell tennis he was not a little boy any more. He had muscles and a bit of attitude. Gasquet, for one, needed no convincing.
It was, Murray said on Friday night, the moment when he felt a connection with Wimbledon and with the fans. The relationship since has been slow to grow, through no fault of Murray, more the fact that members of the peculiar tennis constituency have steadfastly refused to put aside their affection for Tim Henman and embrace a player whose natural diffidence does not always invite easy acceptance.
Murray is comfortable with who he is and where his game is, though. He would like to be universally loved, but those considerations are minor. What matters to the world No4 is getting closer to winning a major and he sees Gasquet, a contemporary who once was more highly regarded than any junior in the world, as an obstacle to be cleared.
"It was also," Murray said, "the first time I had come back from two sets to love down in a match. He was playing unbelievably well. It does help your mentality in matches going forward and it has helped me since then."
He reckoned the Frenchman will remember it too, but added: "I'm planning on getting off to a much better start than the last two times I have done against him [he came back from two sets down in Paris last year, as well]. Even if I don't, I still have the feeling I will be able to come back. I need to believe I am going to go the whole way. But also you just cannot afford to get ahead of yourself."
As well as Murray is playing since he turned his tennis around on clay this summer, he is still a touch short of his best. He hit unbelievable heights against Andy Roddick in the semi-final at Queen's and was cool under pressure beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the rain-delayed final, but there have been blips in his three matches at Wimbledon.
His serve is the main concern. He hit 13 aces in two quick sets against Roddick, a level of hitting that few players reach in their career, but it was not as impressive against Ljubicic, who returned some of Murray's first serves as hard as they came at him, mainly to his forehand.
Murray is striving still for the balance between full-on power with his first serve and accuracy, the eternal dilemma for all players. But he is relaxed and content, which is some times half the battle with Murray, as he readily admits after the nightmare that wrecked his post-Melbourne tennis this year.
"On the court [on Friday night] I felt the energy was right and I didn't get too down on myself," he said. "Even when I did lose points, I didn't get too annoyed. I was still getting myself pumped up for the next point. I felt like I played really well and that's an attitude I want to maintain. How I'm feeling on the court about myself makes a big difference."
While Murray some times appears fragile in that department, Gasquet is the one who suffers more. He has an extraordinary range of strokes and is in decent form, yet there is no sense of "killer" about him. After beating the Italian wild card Simone Bolelli in straight sets on Friday, he made all the right noises about Monday's match without ever sounding convincing. He surrenders to his fate in a way that is both attractive and self-defeating. "I had a break 5-4," Gasquet remembered of his Wimbledon collapse against Murray, "but he fights a lot and I couldn't finish the match."
So, how much harder will it be for him three years later, with him only now forcing his way back into the upper echelons and Murray installed as one of the game's big four? "He's better for sure," Gasquet said, "because when I played him he was maybe 12 in the world. But if I have to play against him, I have for sure nothing to lose."
We will learn soon enough whether Caledonian grit overcomes French fatalism.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jun/26/andy-murray-richard-gasquet-wimbledon
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