Sysyphus
Talk Tennis Guru
Britain's Andy Murray marked his long-awaited comeback at Wimbledon with a tough four-set win over Nikoloz Basilashvili and Mats Wilander paid tribute to him afterwards.
Murray appeared to be well on course to saunter through with a straight-sets victory to make his return a comfortable one when the match took a crazy turn for him.
The 34-year-old, who has seemingly endured no end of injury woes over the last few years, delighted the Centre Court crowd as he roared into a 6-4 6-3 5-0 lead and was seemingly cruising.
Yet somehow, Basilashvili staged a remarkable recovery when facing near-certain defeat, to break four times in succession and win seven games on the bounce. He even saved two match points.
But after the players left the court and the roof was closed for the evening, Murray returned to finish the job as he closed out a challenging but successful comeback match to reach the second round.
The two-time champion had limped off the same court following a quarter-final defeat to Sam Querrey in 2017 - then as the top seed - and had not been back since with hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019, so this was a moment of jubilation and relief.
Wilander, speaking to Eurosport, hailed Murray's determination to come through what ended up being a very stern test, and argued that Murray now has to be considered when talking about the greatest players of all time.
"What a great match, from the first point to the last," Wilander said. "Murray realised that he had to change his game when he needed to, which is so hard to do.
"He showed in the fourth set why he might truly be the greatest player to ever play the game.
"We talk a lot about the numbers, the records," said Wilander. "Fourteen French Opens and twenty Grand Slams. That's all well and good.
"But we have to also consider character, and that's where I think Andy is just on another level.
"And we cannot forget that he also has two consecutive Olympic gold medals in singles. That puts him up in that rarefied air with athletes like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Ben Johnson.
"Andy Murray is special," concludes Wilander.
Murray appeared to be well on course to saunter through with a straight-sets victory to make his return a comfortable one when the match took a crazy turn for him.
The 34-year-old, who has seemingly endured no end of injury woes over the last few years, delighted the Centre Court crowd as he roared into a 6-4 6-3 5-0 lead and was seemingly cruising.
Yet somehow, Basilashvili staged a remarkable recovery when facing near-certain defeat, to break four times in succession and win seven games on the bounce. He even saved two match points.
But after the players left the court and the roof was closed for the evening, Murray returned to finish the job as he closed out a challenging but successful comeback match to reach the second round.
The two-time champion had limped off the same court following a quarter-final defeat to Sam Querrey in 2017 - then as the top seed - and had not been back since with hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019, so this was a moment of jubilation and relief.
Wilander, speaking to Eurosport, hailed Murray's determination to come through what ended up being a very stern test, and argued that Murray now has to be considered when talking about the greatest players of all time.
"What a great match, from the first point to the last," Wilander said. "Murray realised that he had to change his game when he needed to, which is so hard to do.
"He showed in the fourth set why he might truly be the greatest player to ever play the game.
"We talk a lot about the numbers, the records," said Wilander. "Fourteen French Opens and twenty Grand Slams. That's all well and good.
"But we have to also consider character, and that's where I think Andy is just on another level.
"And we cannot forget that he also has two consecutive Olympic gold medals in singles. That puts him up in that rarefied air with athletes like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Ben Johnson.
"Andy Murray is special," concludes Wilander.
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