'It means the world to me': Murray wins first Grand Slam

Never doubt that good things come to those who wait. In his fifth Grand Slam singles final, in the fifth set, Andy Murray ended Britain's 76-year-long wait for a male Grand Slam singles champion. 

There was no shirt-ripping in the manner of Novak Djokovic. No leaping into the air like Roger Federer. No falling flat on his back favoured by Rafael Nadal. Instead, Murray squatted down onto his haunches, his face a picture of disbelief as he struggled to absorb the fact that after a record-equalling four hours and 54 minutes, he had achieved the one thing he had set out to do ever since playing swing-ball in the garden with his brother. 

Murray's 7-6(10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Djokovic, the defending champion, was, much like the Serb's five set win over Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open at the start of the year, a sinew-stretching, stomach-churning, leg-locking display of physical endurance on Arthur Ashe stadium court. Producing rallies that surpassed four shots or more the majority of the time, one totalling 54 successive shots early on in the final, it was modern men's tennis at its most gob-smacking. 

“It was an incredibly tough match, and, obviously it felt great at the end,” Murray said. “Relief is probably the best word I would use to describe how I'm feeling just now. Yeah, very, very happy that I managed to come through because if I had lost this one from two sets up, that would have been a tough one to take.

“You're not sad; you're incredibly happy,” he said. “You're in a little bit of disbelief because when I have been in that position many times before and not won, you do think, ‘Is it ever going to happen?’ Then when it finally does, you just, you're obviously very, very excited. It's hard to explain.  It's been a long, long journey to this point.  So I'm just ‑‑ I don't know.  I don't know if it's disbelief or whatever.  I'm very, very happy on the inside.”

Starting in a swirling wind that had both players contorting their bodies into all sorts of positions merely to keep the ball in play for much of the first set, and exchanging breaks of serve like hot potatoes, it fell to a tie-break to decide who would take the crucial early advantage. For, since 1992, only one man had come back from losing the first set to win the US Open title, Juan Martin Del Potro in 2009. 

Murray travailed and tussled to bring up five set points, some on his serve, some on Djokovic's. But every time the Serb found something extra. Until the sixth set point. Murray took the set, 12-10 in the tie-break, 46 points to 44. 

“If I won that first set and had some chances, maybe the match would go a different way,” Djokovic said. “But look, you know, there is no reason to go back and say, 'What if? What if?' He's a Grand Slam winner, and he deserves to be there.”

The wind in his sails and in his curls, Murray breezed into a 4-0 lead in the second set, making just one unforced error as Djokovic swatted angrily at the air in exasperation as he struggled to impose himself in their baseline rallies. But, no sooner had Murray earned a point for 5-1, than the momentum swirled just as tempestously as the wind. Djokovic broke back, held serve for 2-4, and broke back again. From almost 5-1 to 5-5 in the blink of a Call me maybe. 

But if ever there was a man who has learned from his mistakes, and four previous major finals, it is Murray. Sneaking the set 7-5 on his second set point, the world No.3 went two sets to love up on the defending champion, the first time he had managed to win two sets in a Grand Slam singles final, and only his third set in five finals. 

By this point, the statistics were firmly in Murray's favour. It may have been 76 years to the precise day since a British man won a Grand Slam singles title, but it was also 63 years since a man last recovered from two sets to love to win the US Open, when Pancho Gonzales Houdini-ed against Frederick Schroeder in 1949. The last time a man had performed such a recovery in any major final was in 2004, when Gaston Gaudio summoned his reserves to beat Guillermo Goria at Roland Garros. 

But chickens are counted at their peril. Not for nothing is Djokovic one of the most extraordinarily tenacious men ever to play the game, his conviction in his own abilities something that resonates with every wild-eyed stare, every strutt, every chest-puff. 

With Murray saving break points in the opening game of the third set, by this stage, both men had hit twice as many unforced errors as winners. Not that you would know it, so absurd was the level. 

At 1-1, Murray double faulted to give Djokovic another sniff at a break, and this time the Serb produced an unplayable return to take the early advantage. Murray had points to redeem it at 2-3, but the world No.2 held for 4-2, changed his shoes after breaking again for 5-2, and served out the set on his first set point with a smash. 

But no matter. Pundits and press clamoured to say they had always believed Murray would win in four. But Djokovic hadn't read that script. Breaking to open the fourth set, the Serb survived a 30-shot rally that left him on the floor, a time violation that fuelled rather than felled his fire, and broke again to take the set 6-3. This time it was Murray shouting that his legs felt like jelly, swiping at the air, and threatening to acquaint his racket with the Arthur Ashe tarmac, although to his credit, he never did. 

But, whether it was the zen of Ivan Lendl, his four previous major finals, the years and years of hard work, or something else completely, Murray did not lose his cool. He did the opposite.

“I was thinking a bit more about what happened the last couple of sets and the situation I kind of found myself in after I guess it was nearly four hours of play by that stage,” Murray said. “I said, ‘It's just one more set. Give everything. You don't want to come off this court with any regrets. Don't get too down on yourself. Just try and fight.’”

Earning a double break at the start of the fifth set, there again came the inevitable miraculous Djokovic recovery, much as he had done against Nadal in Melbourne nine months earlier. But Murray would not be caught. Breaking again to lead 5-2, bouncing the ball calmly against the back of the court as Djokovic took a medical time out to have some life rubbed back into his rubbery legs, it was Murray who exuded a calm borne out of self belief. 

On his second championship point, Djokovic went for a forehand and missed. Murray, the man who dreamed he had won Wimbledon a few days after losing the final to Federer, only to wake up and re-live the agony of losing, was the US Open champion. 

“The Olympics were obviously huge for me. It was the biggest week of my life," Murray said. "But still today before the match, when I was sitting in the locker room beforehand, like I say, there are still doubts. You're still thinking, ‘If I lose this one, no one's ever lost their first five finals.’ I just didn't really want to be that person.

“I am just so relieved, like I said, to finally have got through and can put this one behind me and hopefully win more.”

Murray's win, of course, means that no longer will the name 'Fred Perry' and the year '1936' re-appear in print, tweet and type relentlessly before every major tournament.  "I'm obviously proud that I managed to, you know, to achieve it, and, yeah, I don't have to get asked that stupid question again," Murray said laughing. "I'm sure he's smiling from up there that someone has finally managed to do it from Britain.  I'm very, very happy, and I just hope it's not a long, long way ‑‑ I hope I can see another British player in my lifetime win a Grand Slam."

Much will be made of the symmetry between Murray and his coach Ivan Lendl, who lost his first four major finals before winning his fifth. He went on to win seven more. Murray's victory also tied the record for the longest men's final in US Open history, the four hours and 54 minutes between Mats Wilander and Lendl himself in 1988. But, as Lendl said, "He won it, not me."

What the pair can go on to achieve will be exciting to see. Could Murray triumph in Melbourne, or at Wimbledon, perhaps?

“We are all delighted for Andy," commented AELTC Chairman Philip Brook. "Winning your first Grand Slam has to be a very special moment in a player’s career and it was a fantastic performance in an epic final to cap a truly memorable summer of tennis for him personally and for British tennis.  On behalf of Wimbledon I offer our warmest congratulations to Andy.“ 

But for now, there doesn't need to be too much thought about what's next. It is Murray's moment. How much he deserves it.

For full scores, draws and results, and videos from Flushing Meadows, check out the US Open official website.