Why we should want Andy Murray to win

Sunday the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final will feature Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Pre-match show 8 a.m. with the finals to be played at 9 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN3, Watch ESPN and radio Wimbledon online as well as on Sirius XM.

We should be Murray fans on Sunday because those of us from the United States love an underdog and we love a good story. Murray is the underdog and the English have long suffered for someone to step on  the green grass at Wimbledon and win a title.  

As many of you know it has been 77 years since an Englishman has won the Wimbledon Gentleman’s Championship.That man of course was Fred Perry who won the title in 1939 and his name seems to be known by most tennis fans throughout the world.

So now for the second year in a row the Wimbledon final features Mr. Murray, a very talented and a suddenly fiery man from Scotland. He worked on his skills in Miami where he has a home and is coached by tennis Hall of Famer Ivan Lendl. These are a couple of key factors that have helped to elevate his game to elite status.  

There is no doubt that Murray learned from losing last year in his first Wimbledon final to Federer.It ended up being an emotional disappointment that worked to Murray's advantage by showing how much he wanted to win at Wimbledon.

I think he learned a lot more from his Olympic gold win over Federer and his US Open win against Djokovic. In both cases he learned how get the crowd behind him and to use that energy to get him through the tough times.

Murray has the weight of an entire country on his shoulders entering Sunday’s finals. When he plays the U.K. stops to watch or to listen. Friday as Murray was beating Jerzy Janowicz in four sets 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, almost 70% of the televisions on in the U.K. were tuned to the BBC’s coverage, while millions more were listening to either Radio Wimbledon or the BBC 5 radio coverage.

Djokovic is a guys with a great sense of humor, a true crowd favorite and someone worthy of our respect and our support but another time.Sunday on Center Court at Wimbledon he will have few fans outside of his family box. 

Meanwhile, from the Royal Box to "Henman Hill" or as it has been more recently dubbed "Murray Mount" the fans will be firmly behind their boy Andy.

In the U.S. we talk about the importance of home field or in this case home court advantage. It means a great deal and look for Murray to use it to help him get by Djokovic.

Come on folks, the people of the U.K have been with us in war and we have shared many good times together over the years. In point of fact we have far more in common than perhaps ever before. I mean the U.S. has embraced soccer and the NFL is thinking about putting a team in London, now that is joined at the hip.

I actually think you should go to the Wimbledon website and listen to their radio coverage of the match for a while and if that does not get you fired up for Andy nothing will.  Join me for three hours on Sunday and lets get behind Murray to end the 77 years of U.K sadness at Wimbledon.