Stan Wawrinka does not think Andy Murray can beat Novak Djokovic to win the French Open on Sunday. But Andy Murray does. More than once in the past fortnight he has reminded anyone asking that, although he might be the first British player to reach the men’s final here in 79 years, that does not define the limits of his ambition.
He is here only to win – and what he did to Wawrinka, the defending champion, on Court Philippe Chatrier over two and a half hours on Friday suggests he is as well prepared as he has ever been to go one further than Bunny Austin did in losing to Henner Henkel in 1937.
Not for the first time Murray wants to eclipse Fred Perry, the player whose ghost has haunted British tennis down the decades and who became the only man from these islands to win the title at Roland Garros when he beat Baron Gottfried von Cramm 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in 1935.
Murray accounted for the world No4 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 with probably his best ever performance on clay – and there have been a few of them lately, including a straight-sets win over Djokovic in the final of the Italian Open in Rome three weekends ago. Did he regard his form and the weight of history as a distraction or a comfort?
“I use it as motivation, if anything,” he said, “but I didn’t necessarily expect to be here a few years ago, so I’ve got to try and enjoy it. I’m proud I have managed to reach the final of all four [majors]”.
This will be his 10th slam final, for a return of two titles – but he has never played anyone but Roger Federer or Djokovic on the final Sunday of a major. That is some mountain to climb after a fortnight’s slog and few have been as arduous as here, where the air and the clay have been heavy and damp nearly every day. The pressure on Murray is the tennis equivalent of the bulging river Seine pushing on the banks of Paris.
Djokovic hit such heights of excellence in dismantling the precocious challenge of the 22-year-old Dominic Thiem in Friday’s other semi-final that there could be no question about his favouritism in the final. But, as Murray pointed out, they have their own challenges now.
“Novak is trying to win the career slam, so it’s a huge match for him, and I’m trying to win my first French Open as well. Neither of us knows how many more chances we’ll have to win here. It took Roger [Federer] a long time to win this one. It’s a very tough event to win. There is a lot riding on the match for both of us.”
Murray can rarely have played better on any surface, let alone on clay, where he has the best winning ratio, 85%, of any player on the Tour over the past 12 months, a remarkable statistic given his previous long struggles to master the red dirt. But, as Rafael Nadal, the nonpareil of clay, observed in Monte Carlo recently, “Andy is not just a great player on clay. He is a great player on all surfaces.”
He has to be in this era, otherwise he would be ground underfoot like all the others who are near to the top of the mountain but unable yet to touch the sky, such perennial nearly men as Tomas Berdych and now David Goffin, alongside old favourites, David Ferrer and the injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Although Murray is 7,735 points adrift of Djokovic in the ATP World Tour rankings, no one is closer, numerically or in form and talent. The seedings here have done their job: they have brought together the two best players in the world right now and maybe for a couple of years at least, to come.
It is irrelevant that 30-year-old Nadal, whose wrist has collapsed, and 34-year-old Federer, battling back pain, are absent injured. It is unlikely either of them would have reached the final weekend, given they were on Djokovic’s side of the draw. Murray did have the easier route on paper – but he discovered soon enough how misleading paper can be when he had to fight through 10 tough sets against two players outside the top 100, Radek Stepanek and Mathias Bourgue, just to get into the third round.
Since then he has built momentum nicely. On Friday he hit a mesmerising peak. His racket work was so clean and precise he hit only 22 unforced errors and won 82 of the 135 quick-kill points of four shots or less.
Wawrinka was so frustrated by Murray’s impeccable defence, especially in the first two sets, that he was forced to risk clean winners – 41 to Murray’s 25 – rather than build points.
“It’s impossible to say,” Murray replied when asked if that was his best performance on clay. “On clay I’ve played some good ones but to play at that level kind of in the semis of the French Open is very pleasing.
“There was a lot of pressure there, as well, today. I was just really happy with the way that I handled everything, and it was for sure one of the better matches that I have played on clay throughout my career.”
Wawrinka, powerless to haul Murray down, even after nicking a tight third set, said: “Andy played really so well today. He was the strongest on the court. It’s as simple as that. He knew what to do against me.”
Then, when asked who would win on Sunday, he said, “I think Novak, as always – even though their recent matches were very tight. But, when he’s at his best, he can beat anybody.”
And Djokovic is undoubtedly back to his best.
