Andy the Lion Heart?

You wonder if the Andy Murray era will come and go without a Major title. He may not be the one to carry the Grand Slam hopes of the British Isles on his shoulders. In one of the great theaters in tennis, a packed Louis Armstrong stadium in the fading light, Murray failed. Failed to win, failed to sink his teeth into a comeback, failed to even force a fifth and deciding set. He made his opponent Stan Wawrinka, the 25th seed, look like Rocky Balboa.

In a situation where all of New York was prepared to embrace Murray, he politely handed the match to a Swiss player no one had ever heard of.

It made you wonder where Tim Henman was. Henman may not have had the raw talent of Murray, but he had some fight in him. He battled Croatian gun slinger Goran Ivanisovic down to the last point in the Wimbledon semis, and made a habit of showing up in the Final Four in London. Murray lay down 6 weeks ago in his Wimbledon semi vs Nadal. You think about the fierce sporting crowd in back in Scotland, some true Bravehearts in their own right, and wonder what they are thinking of their boy Andy, whose shoulders seemed to narrow as the match progressed. With all of New York trying to will him into a fifth set, Murray seemed to be in a race with the setting sun. Body language be damned, he appeared to only care about the flight schedule for the Virgin red-eye back to London and beyond.

Both he and Wawrinka walked by the catering/production truck alley on their way to press. Wawrinka was bathed in healthy sweat, glowing in the golden hour of New York, exuding energy and confidence. Murray, head down, clothed in a white outfit matching his pale skin, avoided all eye contact. The incredible shrinking man, the man burdened by the weighty tennis hopes of Britain. For New York sports fans, this guy had nothin.