Murray Wimbledon champ

Andy Murray ended Britain’s agonising 77-year wait for a Wimbledon men’s singles champion on Sunday when he got the better of world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 at the All England Club.

The 26-year-old became the country’s first male winner since Fred Perry in 1936.

It was Murray’s second Grand Slam title to follow his breakthrough triumph at the US Open in 2012 which followed his Olympic gold medal as well as a heartbreaking loss to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final.

However, Sunday’s title showdown, between two men–who have now contested three of the last four Grand Slam finals–rarely lived up to expectations.

Both struggled in the stifling heat and the top-seeded Serb, who had beaten Murray in the Australian Open final in January, looked jaded after his record four-hour, 43-minute semifinal victory over Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.

And despite leads of 4-1 in the second set and 4-2 in the third, he was out-hit by Murray who finished with 36 winners to 31, with 21 unforced errors to the Serb’s 40 and having carved out 17 break points. Watched by Victoria Beckham, Wayne Rooney as well as Hollywood stars Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper, the British second seed took the opener 6-4 after 59 minutes. Murray wasn’t getting complacent, he had won the first set of the pair’s last three meetings and still lost the match.

Djokovic was obviously aware of the history, speeding into a 4-1 lead but Murray roared back 4-4. Murray then mugged Djokovic for a break to lead 6-5 and went two sets to the good at 7-5. Murray had only lost once when two sets up and that was in the Wimbledon third round in 2005 against David Nalbandian, his debut year when he was a 18-year-old rookie.

A break in the second game of the third set gave Murray a 2-0 lead before Djokovic raced away with the next four games for a 4-2 lead. But Murray regained composure and finally achieved his place in history when Djokovic netted a backhand after three hours and nine minutes.