Caption! Murray is amazed in Rotterdam

Just a quick summary of the ATP 500 series tournament in Rotterdam: Nadal beat Tsonga 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 and will face Monfils in the semifinals. Murray plays Ancic in the other SF match-up.

You've gotta just love Andy Murray's reactions lol!

More jaw dropping pics from Rotterdam below ;)

Andy's inspiration has to be Wade

Andy Murray might want to take a long hard look at Virginia Wade. The last Briton to lift a singles trophy at Wimbledon.

Sporting timing just does not get better than when Wade won the ladies' championship and hoisted the Venus Rosewater Dish to the skies of SW19 back in 1977.

It was Wimbledon's centenary and the Queen was on Centre Court in her Silver Jubilee year to present the trophy and hear the crowd sing to Wade: "For she's a jolly good fellow."

Wade later recalled: "Everybody said to me afterwards, 'Have you come down from cloud nine?' and I said 'No I haven't'.

"I've never experienced anything like that in England other than football's 1966 World Cup. The place went absolutely crazy. It was a cauldron of excitement and celebration.

"It was humbling in a way. You immersed yourself in it and then you realised the reason for it was because you'd won."

Wade triumphed at the 16th attempt, at the tail-end of a career in which she had won the US Open in 1968, the Australian Open in 1972 and after two losing Wimbledon semi-finals in 1974 and 1976.

At 31, and with new stars such as Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova taking over, Wade thought her chance of the big one had gone.

In many ways she had been spurred on that year by Britain's golden girl Sue Barker, herself a grand slam champion having won the French Open on the clay of Roland Garros a year earlier.

Barker's big forehand was in superb form and Wimbledon looked as if it might be treated to an all-British ladies' final. How times have changed.

As it was, Barker saved her worst performance for her semi-final against big Dutch girl Bette Stove, who herself had beaten Navratilova in the quarters.

And so the final came down to Wade v Stove.

It is difficult these days to think of the svelte, genial, serene Wade as a fiery, tormented character who was not averse to the odd tantrum on court.

But that was Wade in her younger days when regularly she allowed her temperament to get in the way of her talent.

Not that it reared its head in the final when she began slowly, the expectation weighing heavily upon her shoulders as Stove took the first set 6-4.

Happily, desire and superior talent kicked in and Wade went on to win the next two sets 6-3 6-1, and now she believes, "I played my best tennis of my career in that match."

It is 32 years since Wade, in her famous pink cardie, sent British sporting hearts soaring and one can only imagine what might be the reaction if Murray were to emulate her feat by lifting the men's trophy this year.

Wimbledon 2009 is another age, a less genteel sporting era perhaps, one in which the winners of the men's and women's singles will pick up £850,000.

Back in 1977, Wade won only £13,500. But the memories, for player and fans alike, were priceless.

2009 wimbledon

Murray ready for title push

Andy Murray Andy Murray has given his fans the news they wanted to hear, declaring: “I’m ready to win a Grand Slam.” The world No.3 believes that the time has come to break his duck in the four majors, and is ready for a fortnight of Murray-mania at SW19. “I'd obviously love to win here,” said the Scot. “ I enjoy playing on grass and I love playing at Wimbledon.“ Murray reached the final of the US Open last year before a fourth round exit in Australia in January. He lost to Fernando Gonzalez in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last month. These are all solid credentials, which have been boosted by his success at Queen's a week ago, when he collected his first title on home turf - and crucially his first on grass. “I feel like I'm ready to win a Grand Slam now, whereas last year I might not have been. But I understand how difficult it is. It's not an easy thing to do.” Murray's chances have been boosted by the withdrawal of last year’s winner Rafael Nadal because of injury. But the British No.1 is frustrated that he will not get the chance to avenge last year’s quarter-final defeat to the eventual winner. “I enjoy watching him play. He's my favourite player to watch, so I'm sure the fans wanted to come to see him will all be disappointed. But he's got to do what's best for him.” Murray starts his campaign on Tuesday taking on American Robert Kendrick, the man he beat 6-0, 6-0 the last time the pair met at Rhode Island in 2006. But the Scot insists there will be no complacency: “I'm focusing totally on the first round, not looking past him at all. He's a tough grass‑court player. He has a big game. He plays very aggressive and takes a lot of chances. So, no, no chance of me underestimating him.” The man from Dunblane remembers the atmosphere while watching Tim Henman as a youngster. And he believes the home crowd can help him achieve what Henman could not – and become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win at the All England Club. “I did watch quite a few of Tim’s matches in the last few years of his career. The support was great. I think anytime you can play in front of a home crowd in any sport is a huge advantage. “You've got 15,000 people behind you. Tim, I'm sure, played some of the best tennis of his career here. I think the crowd has something to do with that.” And what would a Murray triumph on Sunday 5 July mean for British tennis? “It's been such a long time, and people have been waiting for it for - well, forever now. I'm sure it would be huge, huge news for quite a few weeks."

Posted by invador at 8:48 AM 0 comments

Murray missed

Andy Murray looks on in frustration after losing a key point during his match with the German, Tommy Haas.