IT WAS the greatest return in Wimbledon history.
And it summed up how masterful, magnificent Andy Murray won his second title at SW19.
In the ninth game of a tense second set, Milos Raonic reloaded his missile launcher and fired down the joint-second fastest serve in the history of tennis’ oldest tournament.
Standing boldly on the baseline, Murray stepped in, returned the 147mph bullet with interest and won the point with his next shot.
It did not matter that Raonic went on to hold serve.
The weapon which was supposed to give the Canadian a genuine chance of claiming a Grand Slam title at the first attempt proved to be blunt because of a man made in Scotland from girders.
When Taylor Dent sent down his record 148mph serve here in 2010, Novak Djokovic did not lay a racket on it.
Nor did Roger Federer as Sam Groth unleashed a 147mph brute last year.
So imagine Raonic’s surprise when Murray shot down his rocket.
Now the Brit has a third Major to his name, and although this time he did not have to beat Djokovic to do it, this was right up there with his greatest career performances.
A fitting way to match Fred Perry — again — in being only the second British man to win multiple titles at the All England Club since the tournament became a proper knockout affair.
Canada, though, will have to wait for its first champion.
Raonic, 25, looks like Superman but Murray was kryptonite on the green, green grass of Centre Court, robbing his opponent of all his powers in a devastating, demoralising display.
Fair play to the world No 7, he kept fighting. But tie-breaks were also supposed to be his speciality, with 20 out of 26 won in 2016, including in the opening set of his Queen’s final loss to the Scot.
Yet the British No 1 demolished him in both — playing with poise, aggression and, when needed, brilliance.
Murray believes it was in those tiebreaks that his experience of ten previous Grand Slam finals — eight of them lost — told.
The 29-year-old said: “When I was out there at the tight moments, knowing I’d been in that position before, knowing how maybe he would have felt at those moments, being his first Grand Slam final, I do think that helped me a little during the match.
“In the tie-breaks, he maybe missed a few shots.”
But a big reason why Raonic missed makeable shots was because he faced so much pressure in the face of his biggest weapon not earning him enough free points.
After that defeat at Queen’s three Sundays before, Raonic had vowed to try to “serve through” Murray when they next met.
“Serve through” Andy Murray? Yeah, good luck with that. Raonic had averaged 23 aces per match in his run to the final. Against Murray he managed just eight, only one more than the Scot.
And as it turned out, the Brit served better than his opponent, leading the battle of the stats in percentage of unreturned serves, first serves in and first serve points won.
But the biggest war was probably going on in Raonic’s head.
Andy Murray powered to his second Wimbledon title over Milos Raonic
Murray said: “I served well. I was hitting the ball clean. As soon as I was in control of the rallies, there wasn’t many rallies where I gave up that control.
“I made a lot of returns and just tried to build pressure, by getting as many back in play as possible.”
Murray did not give Raonic even a sniff of a break point to attack in the first set.
But the Canadian yielded three. He saved the first, in just the third game, but not the second of two in the seventh.
To rub it in, the Scot produced two big serves of his own to escape danger at deuce in the following game.
Raonic had to wait until his fifth service game for his first ace and Murray closed out the set with little fuss.
Such was the pressure Murray was exerting by routinely getting back serves in the high 130s that Raonic double-faulted in the first game of the second set to offer another break point chance.
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It was not taken, though, and it was the not the first missed opportunity.
In a thrilling ninth game there were two more.
The first came after Murray had faced down that 147mph serve, but again, he could not capitalise.
Raonic had won four of the five tiebreaks he had previously played against Murray, including one at Queen’s and his 2016 win ratio was and still is the best among the big servers. But Murray was out of this world in the first breaker, which he won 7-3.
The British No 1 had lost only one match from two sets up in his professional career, way back in 2005 at Wimbledon when the 18-year-old ran out of gas against David Nalbandian.
Murray admitted he was upset about something at the end of the set but insisted it had nothing to do with coach Ivan Lendl disappearing to the bathroom.
He said: “Ivan’s done that after every single match here after two sets. I don’t know if it’s a ritual of his or not.”
Raonic did not fold. He brought up his first break points in the fifth game of the third set. Murray saved them both and roared to the crowd and to his box.
The Canadian hung in there and forced another tie-break. But Murray destroyed him again, 7-2.
Raonic is a special server and an improving player who may well win Grand Slams himself.
But Murray is a special tennis player and surely now not only one of the greatest British athletes of his age — but of all time.
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