Who is the greatest of them all?
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In case you’ve been living under a rock (or just don’t have a twitter account yet), Wimbledon is just six days away. In this last week before a Grand Slam there are always countless tennis-related events across the capital, each of which eventually ask a small handful of questions, with varying degrees of logic and authority. Ahead of the Championships, the one thought on the minds of the country is: can Andy Murray win Wimbledon?
Tuesday was no exception, but at least the answers were coming from three people who know more about what it would take for Murray to win Wimbledon than most.
Nine-time women’s champion Martina Navratilova and five-time champion Bjorn Borg joined four-time semi-finalist and All-England Club committee member Tim Henman to unveil Rolf Harris’ tribute to the ten most successful Wimbledon champions of all time, as decided by a panel of tennis writers and broadcasters.
But it wasn’t long before legends Borg and Navratilova (who, with her 59 singles, doubles, and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, Henman described as ‘solid’) were being asked to place their bets on the winners of this year’s Championships – and, of course, the likelihood of Andy Murray breaking the Federer-Nadal stranglehold on the Slams and ending 73 years of hurt as a British champion.
“I have been very impressed with him this year. Andy is playing his best tennis,” said Borg, speaking at the Victoria and Albert Museum. “Right now, he probably feels very, very confident. He can handle the pressure. If I had to pick two guys, it would be Murray and Federer.”
“I was really impressed with his clay-court season,” he added, “and coming off that, he feels strong and played well again last week at Queen’s.”
Henman, who both Borg and Navratilova believed would have lifted the trophy himself were it not for the presence of seven-time champion Pete Sampras, is also impressed with the manner Murray has progressed this season.
“I watched Andy at Queen’s and what impressed me most was how routine his performance was,” he said. “It is always a very good field at Queen’s and he only dropped his serve twice the whole week. He was a class apart, and it was such a great platform for him going into Wimbledon. His game looks very comfortable.”
But for those of you not quite ready for Andymonium, Borg, Navratilova and Henman were launching the HSBC ‘Champions of Wimbledon’ event, a chance for members of the public to vote for their greatest grass court legends, both male and female, throughout the Championships. The winners of each vote will be announced before the men’s and women’s finals.
So who will you choose? Go to wimbledon.org, and get clicking!
The women:
Venus Williams
Billie Jean King
Susan Lenglen
Steffi Graf
Martina Navratilova
The men:
Bjorn Borg
Rod Laver
Pete Sampras
John McEnroe
Roger Federer
