Sam Querrey beats hobbled Andy Murray at Wimbledon to end U.S. men’s tennis drought.
It will be a male American in a Grand Slam semifinal, and that will be a first in these 2010s that are closer to their end than their beginning.
It will have come, of course, under suboptimal circumstances.
Like Roddick, whose masterful semifinal then against Andy Murray featured four tight sets, Querrey on Wednesday sent the Centre Court locals to murmuring and then to resignation, shooing Murray, the top seed and defending champion, in a Wimbledon quarterfinal by 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1, 6-1.
Unlike Roddick, whose quarterfinal then was a hard, five-set slog with Lleyton Hewitt, Querrey had to perfect two other hard arts: that of forgetting, and that of taking advantage of the glaringly infirm.
Murray’s injured hip had been a subject of chatter through the fortnight but less so as he combed through four opponents with one lost set.
1 ranking if Novak Djokovic wins this Wimbledon.
1-ranked player and defending champion from the last two Wimbledons, having dismissed Djokovic last year in the third round when the latter ruled the game utterly.
“Sam served great today,” Murray said, and that included 27 aces that made it 125 for the tournament.
Against a player he has beaten seven of nine times as of now, Murray looked back to his own service break for 4-3 in the second set and said, “You know, maybe I could have got the match done in three sets there, had I closed out the second after getting the break.” By the time Murray’s pain grew obvious to the patrons, Querrey looked every bit of a seasoned 29 years old by ignoring the truth, a tennis knack that has eluded many through the years.