Jamie Murray may be the world’s best doubles player but the Scot must wait at least another year before claiming the title he covets most after he and partner Bruno Soares just failed in their bid to overturn a two set quarter-final deficit.
The Australian Open champions were always struggling against French pair Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin but looked to have shifted the momentum when they survived a spell-binding third set tiebreak, saving three match points before winning it 13-11.
The fourth set also went to a tie-break which they rattled through 7-1 and when they recovered from being a break down early in the final set to finally break their opponents’ serve the opportunity was there to pull off a memorable win that would have given them a huge psychological boost heading into the semi-finals.
Read more: Murray survives crisis points to book last four place on day of drama at SW19
However, having spent more than five hours on court in getting through the previous round, eventually seeing off Croatia’s mate Pavic and New Zealander Michael Venus 16-14 in the final set, they could not rouse themselves to find the second break they needed as the quarter-final passed the four and a half hour mark.
“I felt like we would go on and find another break, but we didn’t even come close after that,” Murrray admitted.
“We didn’t return well, neither of us throughout the match. The last couple of games they started to get into it a bit more they won quite a few long points on my serve to break me.
“I was getting a bit tired in the fifth set, but I think that’s normal when you’ve had four hours of play. I think my speed started to drop off a bit on my serve and that maybe contributed to them getting a few more balls back in court, but that’s bound to happen I think.”
Already a Wimbledon champion, having won the mixed doubles title with Jelena Jankovic nine years ago, Murray has made it clear that he regards the men’s doubles title as a much bigger prize and his ambition to win it appeared to be reflected in his decision to break with previous partner John Peers after they were beaten in the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open last year.
He finally made his major men’s doubles breakthrough in his first Grand Slam with Brazilian Soares and they were third seeds, so were expected to reach the semi-final.
“I’m obviously super-disappointed right now,” said Murray.
“To fight so hard to come back from that situation where we were getting out-played.
“They hardly missed a shot the first three sets, but we kept fighting, fighting and managed to somehow win that third set tie-break.
“Then in the fourth set I think we were the better team.
“We played a good tie-break as well, so it’s just a shame to lose after putting in that much effort to get back into the match and turn it round the way we did.
“We can obviously be proud of that effort, it’s just frustrating not to see it out.”
However as one Scottish winner at this year’s Australian Open exits this year’s Wimbledon another is looking forward to a historic first as Gordon Reid prepares to play in the tournament’s inaugural wheelchair tennis singles competition.
“I'm just really excited to get going,” said the 24-year-old.
“I've always grown up watching Wimbledon on TV, mainly the singles event. It was always a dream of mine to play singles here. To now have that opportunity to be a part of the first field of players that's going to go down in history is a massive opportunity.”
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