FOR a few manic minutes, Andy Murray was fist-pumping, Centre Court was bouncing and it felt as if the greatest escapologist since Harry Houdini was at it again.
At the age of 35, with a metal hip and a raging temper, Britain’s two-time Wimbledon champion was threatening to win from two sets down for the 11th time in his extraordinary career.
Fired up by a crowd in ‘I wanna stay here, drink more Pimms, please don’t, please don’t take me home’ mode, Murray ripped through a third set tie-break to stay alive against 6ft 10in American skyscraper John Isner.
Yet it was just a trick of the light. Despite overcoming the hip injury which threatened to finish his career back in 2019, Murray is not quite the obdurate force of nature he once was.
And when Isner struck back to win in four sets, this ended up as Murray’s worst-ever Wimbledon campaign.
The Scot had never previously failed to reach the third round here, dating back to his All England Club debut in 2005.
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But the boom-boom serving of old Long John frustrated the life out of Murray.
Isner, known as The Croupier because he deals out so many aces, simply overpowered the former world No 1.
It seems unlikely that Murray can rouse himself to seriously challenge for Grand Slams again.
But he will not believe that himself, and, barring major injury, this will not have been his final outing on Centre Court.
After US Open champion Emma Raducanu had been knocked out of the women’s event on the same stage immediately before, Murray’s defeat capped a frustrating day for British tennis.
Murray holds an excellent record against beanpoles opponents – including eight straight previous wins against Isner.
The Scot is a brilliant returner of serve – the golden retriever of tennis.
Put this fella in front of a firing squad and he’d usually parry every bullet back into the advantage court.
But not this time. Murray had no answer to an opponent who resembled a giraffe armed with a bazooka. He could not break the American once.
Isner, two years older than Murray, but a man with the stamina to have featured in the longest match in Wimbledon history in 2010, walloped 36 aces as the line judges resembled coconuts in a shy.
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Murray, who lost the opening set in his first-round victory over James Duckworth, was broken without a whimper in his second service game.
And after missing an opportunity to strike back immediately – after an excellent cross-court winner set up break point, he was never offered another sniff.
The first set was lukewarm but in the second, Murray became more focused and vocal.
He roared when he held for 4-3 and started chuntering towards his coach Ivan Lendl after each point – a sure sign that his blood was pumping.
But when we reached the second-set tie-break, Murray went cold.
After losing one service point, he bellowed: “THAT’S NOT VERY GOOD!”
Avoiding the temptation to turn the air blue was impressive – but there was little else to applaud as he went down 7-4.
Murray played some fine tennis on his own serve but trying to gain a foothold on the Isner’s was nigh-on impossible, and the Scot became increasingly exasperated.
The crowd became more voluble, though, with one of the Jedi persuasion urging Murray to ‘use the force!’
And a peachy drop shot to end a long rally, just before the third-set breaker, suggested the Scot might have reached for his lightsaber.
Then he tore into the Isner serve from the start of the tie-break, and when he clinched it 7-3, he leapt up and repeatedly beat the air with his fists, as if he’d just won a fourth Grand Slam.
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But in the fifth game of the fourth set, Murray sent a forehand into the net and all of his dogged work was undone.
The roof soon closed and Murray forced 0-30 on the Isner serve but again he was frustrated before Isner closed it out with yet another volley, with match point set up by yet another ace.
