Greatest British Tennis Players

Andy Murray: does he have what it takes?

With the French open underway, every top ranked tennis player will have their full concentration on winning at the Roland Garros stadium. However one would assume Andy Murray has one eye on the upcoming and eagerly anticipated Wimbledon championship. After reaching the semi-finals last year, he equalled previous British hopeful Tim Henman’s personal best achievement at the tournament. At only twenty five many are hoping Murray may have what it takes to secure the title at some point in his career.

Although this may still be the case, many would also have thought that he may have already established a grand slam victory at this stage in his career. The world number one and two, Novak Djokivic and Rafa Nadal who are all the same ages as Murray have won several grand slam victories. Murray was knocked out by Nadal last year despite taking the first set and even after winning the queens title against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.

Murray certainly has the ability and a strong versatile game suited to grass court play and has a good work ethic on and off the court. However He also seems to struggle on the business end of a tournament. Since 2008, Murray has lost in eight different finals or semi-finals of grand slams, with almost every one against opposition he has beaten before. This seems to be following a very traditional British tennis pattern of bottling it at the wrong time. One can only hope he can develop the mental strength and to get that bit of luck all good champions require to secure a grand slam victory soon and once he’s got one I wouldn’t be surprised if the flood gates began to open.

Tags: Murray, Tennis, Wimbledon