London 2012 Olympics: Revenge not on Andy Murray’s mind at All England Club

By Eleanor Crooks
Published on 25/07/2012 03:29

Andy Murray will not be thinking about revenge for his Wimbledon final defeat when he takes to the courts of the All England Club again this weekend.

The world No 4 left Centre Court in tears two-and-a-half weeks ago after a four-set loss to Roger Federer in his first Wimbledon final.

He has not had much time to lick his wounds, with the Olympic tournament beginning on Saturday, but Murray is confident that will play to his advantage as he looks to contribute to Team GB’s medal haul.

The 25-year-old said at an 
adidas press conference yesterday: “It’s not about revenge. I’m not going to be playing Roger Federer possibly unless we both get to the final so that’s a long way away.

“I think I needed a tournament like this to get ready for in order to get over the disappointment of losing in the Wimbledon final. This has come at the right time.

“I got back on the practice court after only a few days off, normally I would have taken a lot longer. But we’ll have to wait and see. Playing at Wimbledon has always brought the best out of me and I don’t see why that won’t be the case again.”

Murray has already played his part in the Games after carrying the torch on to Centre Court on Monday, while his practice partners this week have included Novak Djokovic, who Federer overtook as world No 1 with his Wimbledon victory.

Although the venue is the same, the All England Club has an unfamiliar look to it, with the courts clad in Olympic colours and the players in national kits rather than Wimbledon’s strict white dress code.

Murray added: “There’s going to be changes to what everyone’s wearing and the backdrops to the courts but I think it’s going to be a great occasion. All of the players are really looking forward to it and I can’t wait to get started.”

The Scot will be looking to become Britain’s first Olympic medallist in tennis since Tim Henman and Neil Broad won silver in the men’s doubles in 
Atlanta 16 years ago.

Henman recalled his experience yesterday, saying: “Atlanta kind of took me by surprise because I hadn’t grown up expecting or thinking about playing tennis at the Olympics.

“I’d obviously started to have better results to qualify for the Olympics but, when I got to Atlanta, if I’m honest, I was probably more interested in watching the other sports than I was in playing tennis.

“I did watch quite a lot of the other events but to be involved in the Olympics as an athlete and to go to the opening 
ceremony was amazing and then to play as well as we did and end up getting a silver medal when, for Great Britain, it was a pretty ordinary Games was fantastic.”

There was good news for Britain’s tennis team yesterday when it was confirmed Heather Watson will compete in the women’s singles after Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko withdrew through injury.

Watson was already in the doubles draw alongside Laura Robson but will now join Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong in the singles tournament as well, while Robson is now first in line should anyone else pull out.

Watson will be confident of doing well in the singles after reaching the third round of Wimbledon before losing to eventual finalist Agnieszka Radwanska, a result that helped her climb to her current ranking of 67th, making her the British No 1. Watson said on Twitter: “Yes it’s confirmed... I’m in the Olympic singles!!!!!!”