He dared to dream but Andy Murray saw his tilt at a Wimbledon hat-trick blown apart on Centre Court last night.
Hours after Emma Raducanu, the darling of SW19 was sent packing in straight sets, British tennis’ favourite son was blasted out by John Isner.
The 6ft 10in giant fired 36 aces and 80 winners as he ruthlessly despatched the Scot 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 in three hours and 23 minutes.
“I’m most definitely not a better tennis player than Andy Murray,” Isner said. "I just might have been a little bit better than him today.
“I had an incredible serving day and I needed every single bit of it to beat him.”
Murray had never lost to Isner but in the six years since their last meeting underwent two hip surgeries.
He walked onto court with a lower ranking and quickly discovered he was critically short in the power stakes too.
The No20 seed launched one howitzer after another, generating speeds in excess of 130 miles per hour.
Breaking Murray to 15 in the third game, he went on to take the first set 6-4 in 40 minutes.
That set the tone as five years on from reaching the semi-finals and at the grand old age of 37, Isner delighted in showing he still has plenty of life left in him.
Watched by coach Ivan Lendl, Murray had no answer as 17 winners fizzed past him. And with even Isner’s second serve topping 120mph he soon found himself two sets down.
Murray’s hope was that he could somehow stay in the fight until the hurricane blew itself out, easier said than done against a man who won the longest tennis match in history.
This never looked like going anywhere near that ridiculous 11-hour marathon of 12 years ago as Murray, unsure in his own game, continued to be smoked by the Isner serve.
He seemed out of ideas and to be cruising towards a straight sets exit against a big man also able to call upon soft hands at the net when needed.
Murray did not get where he is today without fight and his Braveheart spirit showed itself just in the nick of time.
‘C’mon Andy, he’s older than you,’ a fan had implored and it provoked the desired response as Murray, 35, fist-pumped his way to a second tie-break.
This time he was out of the traps fastest, returning Isner’s opening serve with interest. Murray roared, Centre Court followed suit.
The break held until 2-4 when Murray produced another gem. Isner, seemingly shocked by the rebellion, netted off his own serve and it was game on.
Murray mania briefly took hold but Isner calmed himself, broke for 3-2 in the fourth and stayed in the zone while the roof was closed.
Still Murray would not go away, chuntering to himself whilst squeezing every last ounce of effort from his limbs.
But the painful truth was that he had two break points all match and won neither.
So it was that after four sets Isner stood celebrating his ‘greatest win’ as Murray left tennis’ greatest stage for another year.
