? Haye hopes to beat Klitschko and see Scot in Wimbledon final
? Murray wants to play part in great weekend for British sport
If Andy Murray reaches the Wimbledon final on Sunday, David Haye will fly back from Hamburg in a private jet to be courtside, hopefully the new owner of Wladimir Klitschko's three world heavyweight title belts, as well as his own WBA championship.
The most decorated heavyweight in the world will then set aside the manners and noise of the fight game (so as not to upset Tarquin and Prunella on Centre Court) and, in a perfect ending to the drama, will rise decorously with the rest of the nation after watching a couple of hours of exhilarating tennis to acclaim the first British winner of Wimbledon since 1936, his well-beaten opponent, Roger Federer, having been reduced to a wet-cloth wreck on the end of Murray's rediscovered serve and relentless backhand.
Haye has one fight in this dream scenario, Murray three. The first arrives on Wednesday on Centre Court against an opponent his mother, Judy, has hilariously christened "Deliciano", the dashing left-handed Spaniard with the biggest serve in the tournament, Feliciano L�pez, purveyor already of 100 aces.
Thereafter is the probable semi-final challenge of beating their mutual friend, Rafael Nadal, who is both defending the title and guarding a damaged left foot. Whoever gets there, the final looks like being against either Novak Djokovic, who has resumed his reign of terror, or Federer, who never quite abandoned his quiet version of it.
Murray says he has learnt much about life and sport from his friendship with Haye, on the face of it an unlikely one between a belligerent and theatrical product of south London and an introverted, some times angst-burdened Scot from the small town of Dunblane. Perhaps the most valuable advice Haye has given him is to ignore the notion of fate. They have not, for instance, exchanged good luck messages.
"'Good luck' isn't something you send a boxer," Murray says. "They don't believe in it. He said there was something on Twitter about him wishing me good luck. He sent me a message saying, 'There's no luck in sport.' But I'll send him a message a bit closer to the fight. 'I hope you smash him,' is something more like what boxers say."
In tennis, protocol is different and there have been plenty of good luck messages for Murray this week. "It's just something people say to be polite," he says. "To me, the people that are the best prepared and put the work in deserve to be there, to win. There is that saying, 'The harder I work, the luckier I get.' If you put everything in on the practice court, then you get a little bit of luck along the way."
Of course, the dream ending to the twin campaigns by Haye and Murray is wreathed as much in hope as in hard evidence. Many tennis and boxing fans believe it as fanciful as the ending to the atrocious movie Wimbledon, screened on television this week almost as one of those poorly timed jokes that are so bad they are brilliant. Bookmakers similarly dismiss the likelihood of a British double; most have Murray in the region of 11-2 to emulate Fred Perry, while Haye is regarded as a 7-4 chance to beat Klitschko. So crude maths puts the price of their both standing on top of their sports this weekend at 10-1, or thereabouts.
Haye and Murray do not share this scepticism because theirs is a world that crumbles in the absence of self-belief, and neither is inclined to entertain thoughts of failure when so close to the biggest prize of his career. For Haye, victory on Saturday night over Klitschko, who holds the WBO, IBF and IBO titles, would complete a two-year campaign of scandalous hype and bad taste, the promotional tools of his trade. Murray's route this far has been much less rowdy, although just as dramatic. While Haye moves easily on the big stage and is headed for Hollywood when he retires at the end of the year, Murray remains a diffident, though increasingly comfortable, member of tennis's Big Four.
"I've been there for a good three, four years now," he says. "I've been up there with them and won against them quite a lot of times. I'd like to get the chance to win against them in one of these competitions. That would definitely help me."
Murray's circle of celebrity athletes grew by one when Rory McIlroy came to see him practise at Wimbledon. The new US Open champion is already friends with Nadal, so his loyalties will be tested if they meet in the semi-finals.
Haye and Murray have had distractions this week, the fighter creating his with another assault on what he perceives to be Klitschko's fragile psyche, by labelling him "a robot". Expect no such attack from Murray on L�pez, despite Judy's tongue-in-cheek public love-in with the handsome Spaniard. When Murray tried to get them to pose together for a photograph, Judy was having none of it.
"She just walked off, red, and was like 'Nah nah, I'm not doing it, I'm not doing it.' I know him well, because Alex [Corretja, Murray's ex-coach] and him were good friends, and I've played him quite a few times on the tour. He's got a good game for grass, because of his serve, being a lefty, and he naturally comes forward. He's got a nice sliced backhand. He's a tough guy to play on grass."
Probably not as tough as Klitschko is to play on canvas, perhaps, but Murray will be relieved if he gets L�pez out of the way quickly, and remain on course for what could yet be a quite remarkable weekend in the history of British sport.
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