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British press deflated after Murray blowout

LONDON - The sense of disappointment at Andy Murray’s comprehensive defeat in the Australian Open final was palpable in the British press on Monday.

Newspapers had been hoping to fete the first British winner of a Grand Slam tournament for 74 years, but Roger Federer brutally crushed those hopes with his victory in three sets.

The Guardian found that Murray showed “not a lack of courage but a lack of conviction”, and it pointed notably to the third-set tiebreak when he wasted chances to win and get himself back in the match.

“While there are nicer ways of putting it, there is no escaping the conclusion that at key points in the final of the Australian Open Andy Murray let himself, rather than anybody else, down,” The Guardian said.

But it noted that 22-year-old Murray could be expected to reach his prime between the ages of 23 and 27, although he should “abandon caginess and simply play every point against Roger Federer as if it might be his last”.

The Independent picked out the post-match quote from an emotional Murray that “I can cry like Roger, it’s a shame I can’t play like him”.

The Times — which termed the tears “new bawls” — headlined its coverage “no shame in losing to a champion playing at his brilliant, ‘crazy’ best”, in reference to Federer’s own description of his inspired play.

The paper worried however that Murray might find the defeat especially hard to swallow, saying it was “a hammer blow about as colossal as it gets” because it had shown how far he still had to go to rival the very best.

“Although Murray played plenty of virtuous tennis... yesterday, it was never enough to question the authority Federer holds over the world he frequents,” it added.