10:56pm Sunday 21st June 2009
By Uche Amako
For two weeks every summer for the last 10 or so years, the people of Great Britain have come together in the hope that their long wait for a British winner of Wimbledon will finally end.
The sight of Sue Barker on the television presenting tennis is the biggest sign that Wimbledon is coming.
This year is probably the greatest chance of a British winner but it’s likely that Andy Murray won’t be getting the backing of everyone in Great Britain.
Tim Henman was a good player. Never great but good enough to get our hopes up every summer. But he always seemed to have huge support every time he played at Wimbledon even though he never really had the ability to reach a final and win it. When Wimbledon came around it was Henmania. He even had a part of Wimbledon dedicated to him. Henman Hill is in front of a large screen where the fans can watch the tennis and it was the scene of memorable Henman matches.
But Andy Murray is world class. World class is probably used too much to describe people who have done little to earn that title. Although I don’t need to tell you how good he is because his game does that for me. But instead of appreciating his ability, the British public don’t seem to want to support him. Perhaps it is because he is Scottish. The England and Scotland aren’t the friendliest of neighbours and media reckon that he hates England and sees himself as Scottish rather than British.
However people don’t realise that his support team are all English and he has done all he can to remove the perception that he is anti English. He comfortably won the annual grass court tournament at Queens Club in London but the crowd were hardly noisy or excited when watching Murray play.
Murray is a much better player than Henman and the British crowd need to recognise this and give him the same support they showed Henman because if any British player is going to win Wimbledon, it going to be him.
Rafael Nadal is out due to injury so the only clear threat is Roger Federer. Federer will be on a high after winning the French Open and if he wins Wimbledon he will beat Pete Sampras’s record for the number of Grand Slams won.
Usually when Wimbledon is on the local tennis courts are full of would-be Federer’s and Nadal’s. If Murray wins Wimbledon perhaps the British public will try and play like Murray.
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