Andy Murray continues to defy the laws of probability. It is not logical that a man with a metal hip, a chronic lack of match practice and enough health bulletins to fill several volumes of the British Medical Journal should be capable of going toe-to-toe with the world No 28. It makes no sense that, having done so, a player of Murray’s experience should then blow a seemingly unassailable lead to leave a nation on the brink of nervous exhaustion. Yet Murray has always had a distaste for the odds, and his ability to put the British public through the emotional wringer remains beautifully, maddeningly undiminished.
Two sets and 5-0 to the good against the Georgian powerhouse Nikoloz Basilashvili, Murray looked home and dry in his first singles match at Wimbledon for four years. Faced by a player who wields his racket like a battering ram, pounding the ball with the gleeful relish of a butcher tenderising a particularly recalcitrant steak, it had been a typically astute performance from the two-time champion. Employing a bewildering array of slices, blocks and angles to keep the ball low and neutralise Basilashvili’s power, Murray had reeled off eight games in succession to stand on the brink of victory.
But as the Centre Court crowd prepared to acclaim the return of their conquering hero, another of Murray’s trademark qualities resurfaced: his unerring relationship with the unexpected. Without warning, the skidding slices and drop shots that had previously cleared the net by millimetres went inexplicably awry. Murray’s serve, the source of 13 aces in the opening two sets, suddenly deserted him, the Scot finding the court with just 47% of his first deliveries. Two match points came and went. Murray’s chuntering went up a notch. The Centre Court crowd held its breath.
Powerless to prevent the slide, Murray conceded seven games in a row before fading light obliged the players to leave the court for 10 minutes while the roof was closed. The delay proved opportune for the former world No 1, who looked revitalised on his return, breaking to love. Once again, though, there was a twist, flow turning to ebb for Murray as Basilashvili broke straight back. If it was agonising to behold for the British contingent, it was also strangely apt. Murray has boarded the emotional rollercoaster at Wimbledon more times than he will care to remember, and here he was once again, in it for the long haul.
Basilashvili’s best results have come on clay, but his blunderbuss groundstrokes are not unsuited to grass. The Georgian has never before been beyond the third round at the All England Club, but he was a semi-finalist on the grass courts of Halle in the build-up to the tournament and arrived in SW19 as the 24th seed. Having recovered from a seemingly impossible position to maintain an interest in the match, he could have been forgiven for wondering how Murray could possibly recover from the mental and emotional disappointment of losing the third set. The answer came in emphatic style as Murray broke to love in the third game to reassert his grip. This time, the advantage would prove decisive, Murray protecting his serve with tigerish resolution to move within a game of the match before forcing another break to complete a 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 victory.
“Having to come back out and try and win a match, having just lost seven games in a row from 5-0 up on Centre Court, a lot of players would have capitulated and I did the opposite,” said Murray. “There is pressure in that moment, when you’re starting the fourth set having just lost seven games on the spin.
“That’s never happened to me before in my career, [after] being three breaks, a serve up and two sets to love up. But they’re the sort of things that can happen when you haven’t played any matches and things get away from you a little bit quick. At the end of the third set, I was starting to feel a little bit of fatigue and then I’m questioning, ‘Well, if I end up losing this set, will I be okay to win in four sets or five sets?’ I definitely should have finished it up a lot sooner than I did. I don’t think there are that many players that would have won that fourth set.”
It remains to be seen how much a contest that extended over three hour and 32 minutes has taken out of Murray’s body, but the immediate signs were encouraging. “Right now, I feel fine,” said Murray. “My legs are a bit heavy, a little bit tired. But pain wise I feel alright just now. I will be hoping I wake up tomorrow morning feeling alright.”
The Scot can draw some comfort from the likelihood that his next opponent is unlikely to be feeling much fresher. Murray will play either Oscar Otte of Germany or France’s Arthur Rinderknech; the two qualifiers were deadlocked at 9-9 in the final set when poor weather forced the abandonment of play.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner, the 19th seed, was another early casualty, losing 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 to Marton Fucsovics of Hungary, the world No 48.
Andrey Rublev, the fifth-seeded Russian, is safely through after seeing off Federico Delbonis of Argentina 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2, while Roberto Bautista Agut, the eighth seed, came through 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) against Australia’s John Millman.