A former Wimbledon champion on the comeback trail following injury. A dramatic late finish before a raucous Centre Court crowd. The tantalising possibility of an unlikely last hurrah at a career-defining tournament. Hadn’t we been here before?
For Serena Williams on Tuesday night, read Andy Murray on Wednesday night.
The paths of these two great champions have been curiously entwined at Wimbledon over the years. Six years ago, both won the last of their major singles titles at the All England Club, while in 2019 they played the mixed doubles together, illuminating the tournament with the “Murrena” partnership that will be rekindled this year – in spirit, if maybe not in name – by their older siblings Jamie and Venus.
This time out, things have not gone quite so well.
Serena was defeated in the opening round by Harmony Tan, a Frenchwoman ranked 115th. Murray’s challenge was ended a round later by John Isner, the 20th-seeded American who reached the semi-finals four years ago, in four tight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.
In the past, both might have found solutions.
For all Tan’s variety and finesse, there was a time when Williams would simply have hammered her way to victory, banging down aces and exposing the relative weakness of her opponent’s second serve. Murray, meanwhile, had emerged from each of his eight previous meetings with Isner unscathed, his ability to stay solid on serve while making the excellence of his return game tell at key junctures providing an insoluble winning formula.
Times change, though, and here Murray’s tried and trusted approach began to unravel as early as the third game, where Isner’s net-rushing tactics earned him a break as he rushed Murray into error. From there, the Scot had a 6ft 10in mountain to climb.
It was Murray’s misfortune to run into the American on a day when his service, all but impregnable at the best of times, touched perfection. The two break points Murray fashioned in the next game were rapidly snuffed out, and he would never create another. It was a serving performance for the ages, Isner slamming down 36 aces and winning more than eight in 10 points played behind a first serve that found the court 74% of the time.
Murray was nonetheless crestfallen afterwards. His disappointment at his own shortcomings on serve – a shot he said he was frustrated not to be able to practise for 10 days following the abdominal injury he suffered in Stuttgart – was eclipsed only by his dismay at not being able to discern Isner’s patterns with the clarity of old.
“I played many times against those players and found ways to get enough balls back and make enough returns to turn the matches, whether that’s been against [Ivo] Karlovic or Isner, [Milos] Raonic, those sorts of guys,” said Murray.
“I’ve done well against them. It’s just [about] trying to read the serve a little bit better or try and think a little bit about the patterns that they’ve been serving, whether you can maybe a guess a little bit. But tonight he served well, and he served very close to the lines in important moments. When he does that, it doesn’t always matter what you’re trying to do. Not easy.”
Yet it wasn’t only the brilliance of Isner with ball in hand that carried him through. As Murray battled to force an elusive break, the American showed some exquisite touches around the net, feathering away drop volleys, finding short angles and repeatedly stooping to shoelace level to pull off some outrageous half-volleys. At 37, and with Monday’s marathon five-set win over the Frenchman Enzo Couacaud still in his legs, it was arguably the finest victory of his career at a major, as he acknowledged in a humble and magnanimous on-court interview.
“It’s no secret that I am most definitely not a better tennis player than Andy,” said Isner. “I might just have been a little bit better than him today. It was an incredible honour to play him on this court and in front of this crowd. At the age I’m at now, I need to relish these moments.”
Despite his run to the semi-finals four years ago, Isner is best remembered at Wimbledon for the 11-hour, three-day marathon he won 70-68 in the fifth set against Nicolas Mahut 12 years ago. Beating the champion of 2013 and 2016 felt even better, he said.
“A lot of people ask me about that match in 2010, ask me about the great memories that I have from that match,” said Isner. “But it’s more nightmares, being on the court for 11 hours. Really, I think this could be at the very top for me.”
Yet one man’s zenith is another man’s nadir, and Murray was left to reflect ruefully that he simply hadn’t been good enough on the big points. Having played a near flawless tiebreak to clinch the third set, he dropped serve early in the fourth set, missing the kind of short ball he would normally put away in his sleep before netting a forehand. There would be no way back.
The previous evening, Williams had been asked if she had made her last appearance at Wimbledon and replied that it was a question she couldn’t answer. Murray, too, was reluctant to give assurances, pointing out that playing with a metal hip makes prognostication a dangerous game.
“It depends on how I am physically,” said Murray. “[If] physically I feel good, then we’ll try to keep playing. But it’s extremely difficult with the problems I’ve had with my body in the last few years to make long-term predictions about how I’m going to be even in a few weeks’ time, never mind in a year’s time.
“If physically I’m in a good place, yeah, I will continue to play. But it’s not easy to keep my body in optimal condition to compete at the highest level.”
Then he went on to talk about the US Open, and how he hoped to improve his current ranking of 52nd sufficiently to earn a seeding – if not before Flushing Meadows, then at least in time for next year’s Australian Open. Williams, too, talked of playing in New York. Both have won there before.
Time and fate may have weakened them, but the will to strive remains undiminished.