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Andy Murray: Britain's Hometown Wimbledon Hope

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Britain's Andy Murray defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France Friday to advance to Wimbledon men's final. He's the first British player to advance that far in 74 years. (AP)
Britain's Andy Murray defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France Friday to advance to Wimbledon men's final. He's the first British player to advance that far in 74 years. (AP)

Scotland's Andy Murray will meet Roger Federer in the men's final match at Wimbledon on Sunday for all the strawberries and cream. Federer, who hails from Switzerland, will attempt to tie Pete Sampras and William Renshaw, of the 1880s Renshaws, for seven Wimbledon titles, the most ever.

Murray is the first Brit to crash the men's final in 74 years and, if he should win, he will become the first British Wimbledon winner in an astonishing 76 years.

Cristopher Clarey of the New York Times joined Bill Littlefield from London to discuss the reaction to Murray's success among local tennis fans.

[sidebar title="Wimbledon's Official Poet" width="630" align="right"]In 2011, we heard a terrific poem about Andy Murray during Bill Littlefield's interview with Wimbledon's official "Championship Poet". [/sidebar]"It definitely was a sense of mania at that end of that match, also because Tsonga made it a very suspenseful match on Friday and he was really able to attack Murray down the stretch," Clarey said. "At the end, it was like a national holiday ...  it really was. Flags flying, tears in the players' box, tears in the stands, and I can only imagine what Sunday would be like if he were to win."

Clarey says Murray became very emotional after the win, something unusual for the low-key tennis star.

"He's got kind of a droll sense of humor. He's the sort of character you sort of warm to over time. He's not somebody that the first time you hear him you think has got a lot of charisma," Clarey noted. "But the more you hear him and the more you see how he handles this immense pressure here in Britain, the more respect you have for him."

Virginia Wade won the  Wimbledon women's singles title in 1977 during the Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee.

"So here we are in [the Diamond] Jubilee year and people are looking for symmetry and symbolism and looking pretty hard right now," Clarey said.

"I think it will be a really interesting match on Sunday," Clarey said of the Murray-Federer final. "If the [British] had a champion, they wouldn't quite know what to do with him at this point.  It's been so long."

This segment aired on July 7, 2012.

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