This is no time to party, insists Murray
Murray defeated French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-5 to move into his fourth grand slam title match and become the first home finalist in the men’s singles at the All England Club since Bunny Austin in 1938.
But if the 25-year-old is to end Fred Perry’s 76-year reign as the last British winner of the men’s title, then he will have to defeat Roger Federer, who will aim to equal Pete Sampras’ record of seven Wimbledon titles.
The messages of congratulations flowed in, but for Murray and coach Ivan Lendl the focus will quickly turn to the Federer clash.
He said: “It’s not the end of the tournament yet. The time for all of that stuff comes when I’m done.
“I spoke to Ivan after the match. It was, ‘Good job. You did really well. What time do you want to practice tomorrow?’. That’s it. There’s no time for anything else.
“I’m not going to go out and celebrate tonight, although I heard there’s a cocktail party here this evening which I’ve been invited to, but I probably won’t be participating in that.”
Blocking out the hype around his campaigns at Wimbledon has become a key Murray strategy, but he admitted after beating David Ferrer in the quarter-finals that the pressure does take its toll.
He was full of emotion at the end of the match yesterday, letting the tears flow and looking skywards as his achievement sank in.
He said of carrying the weight of history on his shoulders: “You don’t really think about it that much, but subconsciously, at the end of the match, it was obviously very emotional.”
Facing Federer in a grand slam final is not a new experience for Murray, who lost to the Swiss at the US Open in 2008 and the Australian Open in 2010, while his other final came in Melbourne last year when he was beaten by Novak Djokovic.
Murray does lead their head-to-head 8-7 but Federer has a phenomenal record at Wimbledon.
Murray feels facing arguably the sport’s greatest ever player will take the pressure off a bit.
He said: “It’s a great challenge, one where I’m probably not expected to win the match, but one that, if I play well, I’m capable of winning.
“If you look at his record here over the past 10 years or so, it’s been incredible. So the pressure that I would be feeling, if it was against somebody else, I guess it would be different.
“There will be less on me on Sunday because of who he is.”
For two sets yesterday, Murray played some of his best tennis, looking confident and striking winners almost at will.
Tsonga, who was also looking to reach a first Wimbledon final, barely had a sniff but the momentum shifted at the start of the third set when Murray played one sloppy game and the Frenchman took advantage.
The key to the match was the fourth set, which contained enough drama and twists and turns for a whole match.
Murray moved ahead 3-1 but Tsonga responded with a break of his own.
Murray dug in and finally clinched victory when a forehand return caught the edge of the line, although he had to wait for the agonising seconds it took for Hawk-Eye to confirm his belief that the ball was in.
The Scot admitted he had let thoughts of the final slip into his mind at the start of the third set, which allowed Tsonga back into the match.
He said: “The first couple of sets were pretty smooth. Then after that it was tough. It was a tough match.
“In terms of focus, that was probably one of the hardest matches.
“Because when you do win a couple of sets comfortably and you’re getting close to the final of a slam, it’s really hard sometimes just to stay in the moment and not get too far ahead of yourself.”
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