Wimbledon Men’s Final
Andy Murray goes in search of a second Wimbledon men’s title on Sunday when he takes on Milos Raonic on Centre Court at SW19. The Canadian will be bidding to become the first ever Grand Slam singles champion from his country so they are both playing for quite a lot in this final.
Saturday Recap
The ladies took the centre stage on Saturday and it was an up and down day for us in a way. Our bet for the final came in as Serena Williams claimed her 22nd Grand Slam title in beating Angelique Kerber 7-5 6-3 but sadly that meant that we had to settle for just a place from our outright bet on the German but at 25/1 we can live with that!
Milos Raonic
The Canadian has made it through to this stage the difficult way although I’m sure he expected no different when he was drawn in the same quarter as Novak Djokovic. Djokovic was beaten before he got as far as Raonic but the powerful server still had to go five sets to see off David Goffin in the last 16 and Roger Federer in an epic semi-final.
This is Raonic’s first Grand Slam final and while he has a really experienced and top level team behind him it remains to be seen how he will handle the occasion. He seems a pretty level headed character though so I’m expecting him to be ok. He certainly can’t afford to be nervous against a tough opponent.
Andy Murray
Apart from when he let a two set lead slip against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga this tournament has been a cruise to the final for an Andy Murray who looks like he is playing the best tennis of his career. The likes of Nick Kyrgios and Tomas Berdych offered no resistance and it could be that the biggest threat to the Scot is pressure.
Murray is experienced in Grand Slam finals but this is the first time he will have played one without it being Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer at the other end and it is one thing having played finals, it is another going into one as the overwhelming favourite and it will be interesting to see how he deals with that difference.
Head to Head
These two have met on nine previous occasions and Murray only leads the head to head 6-3 which is quite close by the standards of some records against the Scot but it should be balanced by the fact the world number two has won their last five meetings.
Their only meeting on the grass came just last month when they played the Queens final which went three sets before Murray came from behind to win the title. That final was high quality and this one should be too.
Betting
We took Murray to win this tournament at 7/2 before the event began and we’re not going to renege on that having come this far. I’m not convinced it will be without the hairy moments that Murray always seems to need but I do think he will come through this final and land the title.
That said if Raonic doesn’t get hit by nerves and if he didn’t have too much taken out of him in the previous round I certainly think we’ll see plenty of tennis in this final. They’ve met three times in 2016 and I’m going to ignore their meeting on the clay in Monaco where the surface negated Raonic’s biggest weapon and Murray was irresistible but in the other two meetings they have gone the distance in the Australian Open semi-final and in the Queens final and I can see them going deep here.
Raonic’s serve is a weapon on this surface but there is no doubt he is playing with more confidence and aggression than ever before and his ground game is so much better as a result. He outplayed Federer from the back of the court at times and that is scary to think is possible.
Ultimately Murray is the fiercest fighter. He is happy to take opponents to the trenches and once he gets Milos Raonic there he’ll know he will have his man so I see Murray winning but not before the total games in this final clicks beyond 39.5. They played 32 in three sets at Queens and 53 in five in Australia. I’m expecting at least 40 here.
Tips
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