If Wayne Rooney and his England teammates make an inconspicuous return home from a disappointing World Cup campaign, avoiding those scathing covers and back pages, they can thank Andy Murray and his new coach, Amelie Mauresmo.
Samba is passe.
It is the season of strawberries and cream in England now – Roy Hodgson can spend the rest of the summer in peace.
It is the new trans-channel alliance between the Scot and his French tutor that is going to be making headlines over the next two weeks.
England’s wait for a second World Cup triumph continues, but if Murray thought he could breath easy after finally ending Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s champion at SW19 with a straight-set demolition of Novak Djokovic last July, he might be in for a surprise. The monkey is finally off his back, but the national obsession is not.
The 27-year-old Scot still carries a considerable weight of expectation as he begins the defence of his Wimbledon crown.
Many will be expecting him to fail and will base that on his chequered record over the past 12 months. Murray has not reached a final since his memorable win at Wimbledon and has lost every time he has come up against a top 10 player since, taking only two sets in six matches.
Rafael Nadal beat him at Roland Garros and Rome, Djokovic knocked him out at Miami, he lost to Roger Federer at the Australian Open, and Tomas Berdych (Cincinnati) and Stanislas Wawrinka (US Open) got the better of him last year.
In nine matches against top 20 players over the past 12 months, Murray has one win – over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Miami – and his 11 losses this year, which already exceeds last year’s eight, includes defeats to Radep Stepanek (No 42), Santiago Giraldo (No 46) and Florian Mayer (No 40).
So his recent form certainly does not inspire confidence.
Murray has had a bad back and a recovery period from surgery, but there has also been the issue of motivation after the emotional Wimbledon triumph.
“For a couple of months after Wimbledon, I almost started to believe everyone,” Murray said ahead of the start of his defence.
“They were all saying that it’s completely normal to lose motivation or to struggle after you win Wimbledon, and I kind of accepted that.
“I found I was struggling to get up for practices and training.
“That was part of it, but there was also the physical stuff as well. I was thinking my back was bad and wondering what I was going to do about it.
“I didn’t know if it was going to be perfect again or if it was going to be bad for ever.
“When I decided to have the surgery that was it. I kind of moved on. The motivation has been there ever since then.”
That motivation was obvious at the French Open when Murray fought to down Philipp Kohlschreiber and Gael Monfils in five sets. Nadal overwhelmed him in the semi-finalss, but then the Spaniard is a different player on clay. On grass, Murray could make a similar claim.
He has reached the semis in each of his last five visits to the All England Club, has been a finalist the past two years and won the 2012 Olympic gold as well.
Nadal, Djokovic or Federer cannot make a similar claim.
So, only a brave man would bet against Murray defending his Wimbledon crown, especially given his draw.
His path to the final could begin with a win over David Goffin (No 104), then go through Pablo Andujar (No 79), Roberto Bautista Agut (No 28), Fabio Fognini (No 15), David Ferrer (No 7) or Grigor Dimitrov (No 11) and a semi-final against Novak Djokovic (No 2).
It could get easier if Djokovic’s troublesome wrists start acting up, but Murray is keen not to look too far ahead.
“I want to win, but I’ve not looked that far ahead,” he said. “It took me a long time to win for the first time, so I’m not naive enough to think the next one will come around so quickly.”
In the Open era, only four of the 20 Wimbledon first-time champions have successfully defended their crown in the following year: Bjorn Borg (1977), Boris Becker (1986), Pete Sampras (1994) and Roger Federer (2004).
Murray has a chance to join this august company and a besotted Britain will be standing firmly behind their man. Rooney, Hodgson and company can be thankful for that.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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