Andy Murray is a great tennis player, but he is trumped by the three kings of men's tennis on every Grand Slam stage.
He toils at No. 4 in the world, but the world-class efforts of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer keep him from climbing any further.
Murray's reactionary style of play doesn't play well against these three powerful players normally, and it won't play well in Wimbledon this year, either.
He's been here before.
Murray has made the Wimbledon semifinals for three consecutive years. He lost to Andy Roddick in 2009, and Nadal in 2010 and 2011.
No matter how well Murray seems to be playing coming into these big matches, he seems to hit the wall when they arrive. He hasn't performed well in Wimbledon's most pressure-packed situations, and he will continue to struggle if he can't change that.
The dominance of tennis' titans over Murray doesn't stop at Wimbledon. He was the runner-up at the 2008 U.S. Open, and at the Australian Open in 2010 and 2011. The U.S. Open loss, and the Australian Open loss in 2010, came at the hands of Federer. The 2011 Australian Open was at the hands of Djokovic.
That's five losses to tennis' best players in five huge matches.
All three players are still at the top of their game, and Murray will not have an easier time this year.
Nadal and Djokovic have three Wimbledon titles between them—including Djoker's victory last year—and Federer has six career titles on Centre Court.
Murray is a fine player in his own right, but he can't stand up to their pedigree. If he had come to the tennis world at a different juncture, maybe his career would include more championships.
Instead, he will win a lot of meaningless matches while coming up short when it really matters most. It's a combination of bad play and poor timing.
He's considered a favorite heading into this year's tournament, but there are only three "real" contenders in this year's field.
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