Why we needed Andy Murray to win
While the post-Brexit blues still hang over us we needed something to raise the collective spirit of the nation and on Sunday 10 July 2016 that came in the form of Andy Murray winning his second Wimbledon singles title.
As previously written about we who voted remain have been feeling something that can only be described as grief. Studies have been done to back this up. Apparently we are suffering sleepless nights, intense feelings of sadness and emptiness and going through the stages of grief like denial and anger.
The other things since then include the dropping of the pound to a 31 year low and the rise in hate crime (racism basically). This is all off the back of Brexit.
It isn't just Brexit that has made the nation feel this way. Basically June and early July was a rubbish time for us all. England were knocked out of the last 16 of the Euros by Iceland who are made up of professional and amateur players and who's coach is a dentist.
Then there have been the large number of high profile deaths this year (largely from cancer). This adds to the sense of collective sadness as the numbers are so high that there is a strong chance everyone has been affected by at least one of these deaths.
So all-in-all 2016 was shaping up to be the shittest year on record. Everyone was angry and upset and there seemed to be nothing to get us out of it.
Then came Andy Murray. Actually, not just Andy Murray. The final day of Wimbledon turned out to be the best one in years for the Brits. The day started with Gordon Reid, another brilliant Scot (although who cares because he's British - either way this is going to get picked on I guess - meh) who knows Andy Murray fairly well and even has Murray's old coach working with him. Reid defied the odds and won the first ever Gentlemen's Singles Wheelchair final and surely securing his place in the sport's history! Then came the Ladies Wheelchair Doubles final with Brit Jordanne Whiley and her Japanese partner Yui Kamili who won the title!
All eyes turned from Court 17 to Centre Court though as Andy Murray took the stage against a totally in form Milos Raonic. There was a lot of expectation that Murray would be able to do it again, especially as Novak Djokovic had been knocked out of the third round by Sam Querrey. Milos Raonic was having the run of his career though and had beaten Roger Federer very convincingly in his semi-final on Friday 8 July. The Canadian (by way of Montenegro) has a huge serve and is not afraid to come in to the net. However, with one break and two tie breaks it was Murray who was the victor! That isn't to say that Raonic played badly, he was in amazing form and really pushed Murray in the three sets so it was still exciting to watch.
Finally, on Centre Court, Brit Heather Watson and Finnish player Henri Kontinen won the Mixed Doubles. That made four British winners at Wimbledon in one day and cemented 2016 as the best British tournament for decades.
We needed this lift that the players could bring. Of course Murray has the highest profile of the group and so there is a lot of focus on his achievement and rightly so. You wait the better part of 80 years for a British Wimbledon champ and then the same guy does it twice in a matter of a couple of years. The timing was perfect. So far summer has been a wash out and all the events above have left us more dour than we usually are as a nation. His win, and the win of the other three Brits, gave us something to cheer for.
The good thing about sporting events is that when someone is playing well it can really draw you in. It is so easy to see why Murray is number two in the world rankings, if it weren't for Djokovic he would easily be the greatest player in the world.
Collectively we needed the lift. Murray says he will enjoy this win more than the first time and says that he didn't feel so much of the pressure and expectation. Really I find that hard to believe, we all had Murray as our last hope for happiness. That must have come across at some point and I guess it shows how professional a player he is now.
Certainly for a few hours I felt a lot better about life knowing that Murray had done it again and was lifting that trophy high. I know I am not the only one who feels that way. Also, I hope that we can ride this wave for a while as I know that soon it will be back to the grinding reality.
As previously written about we who voted remain have been feeling something that can only be described as grief. Studies have been done to back this up. Apparently we are suffering sleepless nights, intense feelings of sadness and emptiness and going through the stages of grief like denial and anger.
The other things since then include the dropping of the pound to a 31 year low and the rise in hate crime (racism basically). This is all off the back of Brexit.
It isn't just Brexit that has made the nation feel this way. Basically June and early July was a rubbish time for us all. England were knocked out of the last 16 of the Euros by Iceland who are made up of professional and amateur players and who's coach is a dentist.
Then there have been the large number of high profile deaths this year (largely from cancer). This adds to the sense of collective sadness as the numbers are so high that there is a strong chance everyone has been affected by at least one of these deaths.
So all-in-all 2016 was shaping up to be the shittest year on record. Everyone was angry and upset and there seemed to be nothing to get us out of it.
Then came Andy Murray. Actually, not just Andy Murray. The final day of Wimbledon turned out to be the best one in years for the Brits. The day started with Gordon Reid, another brilliant Scot (although who cares because he's British - either way this is going to get picked on I guess - meh) who knows Andy Murray fairly well and even has Murray's old coach working with him. Reid defied the odds and won the first ever Gentlemen's Singles Wheelchair final and surely securing his place in the sport's history! Then came the Ladies Wheelchair Doubles final with Brit Jordanne Whiley and her Japanese partner Yui Kamili who won the title!
All eyes turned from Court 17 to Centre Court though as Andy Murray took the stage against a totally in form Milos Raonic. There was a lot of expectation that Murray would be able to do it again, especially as Novak Djokovic had been knocked out of the third round by Sam Querrey. Milos Raonic was having the run of his career though and had beaten Roger Federer very convincingly in his semi-final on Friday 8 July. The Canadian (by way of Montenegro) has a huge serve and is not afraid to come in to the net. However, with one break and two tie breaks it was Murray who was the victor! That isn't to say that Raonic played badly, he was in amazing form and really pushed Murray in the three sets so it was still exciting to watch.
Finally, on Centre Court, Brit Heather Watson and Finnish player Henri Kontinen won the Mixed Doubles. That made four British winners at Wimbledon in one day and cemented 2016 as the best British tournament for decades.
We needed this lift that the players could bring. Of course Murray has the highest profile of the group and so there is a lot of focus on his achievement and rightly so. You wait the better part of 80 years for a British Wimbledon champ and then the same guy does it twice in a matter of a couple of years. The timing was perfect. So far summer has been a wash out and all the events above have left us more dour than we usually are as a nation. His win, and the win of the other three Brits, gave us something to cheer for.
The good thing about sporting events is that when someone is playing well it can really draw you in. It is so easy to see why Murray is number two in the world rankings, if it weren't for Djokovic he would easily be the greatest player in the world.
Collectively we needed the lift. Murray says he will enjoy this win more than the first time and says that he didn't feel so much of the pressure and expectation. Really I find that hard to believe, we all had Murray as our last hope for happiness. That must have come across at some point and I guess it shows how professional a player he is now.
Certainly for a few hours I felt a lot better about life knowing that Murray had done it again and was lifting that trophy high. I know I am not the only one who feels that way. Also, I hope that we can ride this wave for a while as I know that soon it will be back to the grinding reality.
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