Yes it’s that time of year again….. The Wimbledon Championships are back. At midday on Monday thousands will flock to Wimbledon Centre Court to see the action start all over again and all eyes will be focused on British number one Andy Murray.
Last year expectations were high for the Brit and he nearly surpassed all expectations as he was knocked out in the semi-final after a thrilling match against eventual runner up, American Andy Roddick.
This will be the second year of the famous roof that now covers centre court at Wimbledon. Although only used in two matches last year in its debut Championships, it could be argued it hosted the most exciting and certainly latest finished ever match in the tournament of 2009.
A finish time of 22.38, yes twenty to eleven at night had never been seen before, however with the roof and floodlights in place for the first time, Andy Murray was able to scrape past Swiss born Stanislas Wawrinka to take his place in the quarters.
With recent criticism of the LTA, they will certainly be hoping that Murray and other Brits can perform at their ‘home’ tournament. The form of Murray has recently dipped however with many blaming a lack of commitment and concentration from Murray.
Murray will be looking to hit back at these claims by at least reaching a semi-final again, and who knows maybe winning the Championships and in doing so becoming the first male Brit to do so since Fred Perry in 1936 a massive 74 years ago, who said the football team had a bad record?
Other Brit’s that will feature at this year’s event include: Jamie Baker who will look to go as far as possible although not much is expected from him while Elena Baltacha will probably hold the best chances of the women in the women’s side of the tournament.
Of course there are major contenders that Murray will have to overcome if he is to win this tournament. The favourite for the title will be Swiss Roger Federer as he looks to gain his seventh Wimbledon Championships.
Other contenders will also be Spanish born Rafael Nadal as he looks to win his 2nd title, the last coming two years ago in the epic battle with Federer that lasted over four hours, another challenger to Murray will again be Andy Roddick, the man Murray failed to get past last year in the semi’s.
So as Murray kicks off against the world number 80 Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic all fingers will be crossed that finally a Brit will be able to win the Wimbledon trophy for the first time in 74 years.
I would also like to know who you think will win this year’s Championships and how far you think British number one Andy Murray can go?
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