Agencies
London, July 16
Andy Murray is still seething from his Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Roger Federer as he prepares to tackle France in the Davis Cup.
However, Murray’s older brother Jamie philosophically reflected following his own Wimbledon disappointment by saying “nobody died”.
Prospects had been looking good for the Scottish brothers, only for both to be denied silverware as the fortnight came to a close.
First, Andy’s hopes of winning a third Grand Slam title came to an end on Friday as Federer produced an outstanding semi-final display.
That saw many British hopes transfer to the shoulders of Jamie, but the 29-year-old and his men’s doubles partner John Peers fell in their final to Jean-Julien Rojer of Holland and Romania’s Horia Tecau.
Rather than being too downbeat about that loss, Jamie was focusing on the positives ahead of Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final, which runs from Friday to Sunday.
“I feel okay,” Jamie Murray said. “I think in the final I played a reasonably good match.”
“I think those other guys played very well, especially after hanging in the first set and started to serve very well the last two sets. I was proud of what I achieved there - it was a big step forwards for us in our partnership and there’s lots to look forward to. Nobody died.”There were chuckles as that answer brought an end to the Davis Cup preview press conference at Queen’s Club.
Most of the attention had been focused, unsurprisingly, on Andy Murray and his reaction to being blown away by Federer in straight sets.
“I thought about it most days,” said the 2013 Wimbledon men’s champion, who won the Aegon Championship at Queen’s Club last month.
“I did say at the time and you know, a couple of days after, I was gutted. He served over 80 per cent in the first and third sets - that won’t happen to me the rest of the year.”
“I am also trying to learn from the match as well. You can’t (learn) just when you walk off the court, and the next day it’s not like you immediately learn stuff from the match there.”
“You have to look at that match and see what happened, analyse it a bit and look at the tournament as a whole and Queen’s as well, and think about those things and see what I can do better in the future. But it doesn’t take one day. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into those events and you need to take the time when you are finished in them to analyse what’s gone right and wrong, and things that you can do to improve in the future.”
There is little time for the 28-year-old to process the Federer loss now, with such an important Davis Cup clash this weekend.
Murray admits it has been difficult to get preparations completely right, but believes he has had enough rest and recuperation to impress against France.
Murray’s fellow Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet, along with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Nicolas Mahut, will be in the French team at Queen’s Club, where Britain are attempting to reach the World Group semi-finals for the first time since 1981.
“I think over the last couple of years, we’ve had some good performances,” Murray said.
“This is our level now as a team and this weekend is going to be a tough ask against four top grass-court players. They’re all really, really good players so it is going to be a tough challenge for us but one we have an opportunity to win if we play at our best level.”
