Britain's "ecstatic media trumpeted the end of the 'longest yearning in British sport'" on Monday by celebrating Andy Murray's Wimbledon success on the front and back pages of newspapers and much of the rest as well, according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. The Sun tabloid wrote, "Finally, after 77 years, 15 PMs, three monarchs...Brit man wins Wimbo." The paper devoted the first five pages to Murray. Such "unrestrained joy was the norm." The more "up-market" London Times and London Telegraph were "throwing gravitas out of the window with page after page chronicling every detail of Murray's epic victory and back story." The Guardian wrote, "Scottish, British, who cares? Today he belongs to us all," declared another headline inside (REUTERS, 7/8).
SCANNING THE PAPERS: The BBC reported Murray's first Wimbledon title "dominates the front pages" of Monday's national newspapers in England and Scotland, while there is "also widespread coverage" in the int'l press. Headlines range from ''The History Boy'' in the Times to ''Champion'' in the Guardian. The Scotsman wrote, "For those of us growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, the thought of a Scot winning Wimbledon was not even an impossible dream," writes Stuart Bathgate. "Arrant nonsense, no sooner imagined than dismissed. That supposed nonsense is now hard fact." The Telegraph's Simon Briggs opened his report with, "It is the sentence British tennis has been waiting for ever since a wild-haired 17-year-old from Dunblane won the junior U.S. Open. Andy Murray is the Wimbledon champion." The Daily Mail Chief Sports Writer Martin Samuel summed up what the victory meant to the people of Murray's home town, Dunblane. Samuel: "Murray has long been on a mission to alter public perceptions of his home town, Dunblane, in Scotland. He wanted it to be remembered for producing Britain's finest tennis player rather than a shooting tragedy at a school that claimed many of his young friends, and was lucky not to have taken him." The Times' Neil Harman wrote, "Dear old Fred Perry would have loved to see this." The Independent's James Lawton wrote, "Of all the days he will know, and all the prizes he will win, these were the ones bathed in golden sunshine that Andy Murray will always have with him -- and for which he will always be revered." The Daily Star's Ian Murtagh wrote, "Perhaps Murray's finest achievement was in making the stony-faced Ivan Lendl break into a smile." The Sydney Morning Herald wrote "For Andy Murray and Great Britain, the wandering in the wilderness is over, the deed done" (BBC, 7/8).
TWITTER TIME: On the London GUARDIAN's News Blog, Hannah Waldram reported Murray "took to Twitter to delight fans by answering their questions" Monday. Murray responded to 10 questions over 15 minutes, "giving away details of his match routine, whether he went to bed with the Wimbledon trophy on Sunday night, and describing winning Wimbledon in one word -- relief" (GUARDIAN, 7/8).
HISTORY LESSON: The GUARDIAN also wrote on its Pass Notes blog that the Murray headlines "have ignored the fact that a Briton won a Wimbledon singles title in 1977." However, "she was a woman." Virginia Wade was the last Briton to win Wimbledon. It has been 77 years since a Briton won the men's singles final. Dorothy Round Little won the women's singles in '37. Deaf player Angela Mortimer won the championship in '61, and underdog Ann Haydon-Jones beat Billie Jean King to win again in '69 (GUARDIAN, 7/8).
