Wimbledon - Andy Murray is clear favourite for the first time at a Slam, how will he handle it?

Hidden between the lines of the unnecessary outrage surrounding Nick Kyrgios after his fourth-round match against Andy Murray was the most significant consequence of all: Andy Murray was on fire and the Scot’s thorough and complete dismantling of every facet of Kyrgios’ game was the statement performance of the tournament so far. In Murray’s first match since the dust properly settled on Novak Djokovic’s shock defeat to Sam Querrey, Murray confirmed his emergence as the clear title favourite in terms that could not have been any less uncertain.

Murray has been adamant that Djokovic’s defeat changes absolutely nothing and has little bearing on his title aspirations and how he conducts himself as he attempts to move on through the tournament. The Scot’s logic is sound - he argued that he has been at this position on the greatest stages before and he knows how to carry himself regardless of the results from other parts of the draw. Moreover, the pressure he has to deal with every year as a British player at Wimbledon is so suffocating that this adds nothing to the overall landscape.

But Murray has essentially been thrust into a position that he has never before occupied. The short straw he has drawn in regards to his contemporaries of the past decade is well documented, but it’s still astounding to think that he, a two-time slam champion, has never been such a clear favourite from this point in any slam. No slam draw has ever cracked open for him, and his career has been defined by the uphill struggle that has been attempting to keep up with the three legends above.

While Federer was lucky enough to pick off the likes of Mark Philippoussis and Marcos Baghdatis in the final rounds of his slam wins, Rafael Nadal marked the beginning of the rest of his life with a victory over the lowly Mariano Puerta in his first French Open final and even Novak Djokovic faced fellow first-timer Jo Wilfried-Tsonga in his first slam final, the only two players Murray has ever faced in slam finals are peak Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. The lowest rank of either Federer or Djokovic in those finals was No 3.

The entire point of winning slams is that it’s clearly supposed to be the most difficult achievement in tennis, but from the stature of a player like Murray, the difficulty of Murray’s attempts to triumph is completely unprecedented in the history of tennis.

The difference this year is that, suddenly, Murray is no longer running uphill. As a former champion and the second seed in the prime of his career, he stands at the top of the hill. Suddenly, he is the tournament favourite and the door of opportunity has swung wide open. That changes everything. He may already be surrounded by unimaginable pressure, but the only thing this can do is further increase it.

On Centre Court, the pressure seemed to finally weigh down on the Scot as he stood 7-6 6-1 up against Tsonga. From two sets to love up, Tsonga’s tennis was blazing. The Frenchman pegged back one set, and then from 4-2 down in the fourth set he stole into a 5th set with four games in a row. Murray was hardly poor, but the tightness caused by the surrounding pressure and weight of the moment was.

But the value of being constantly surrounded by pressure is that Murray fully understands that the only way out of its grasp is through. From break point down at the beginning of the fifth set, Murray responded to the tipping of the scales by stepping into the court and playing aggressive, penetrating tennis. He dominated with his forehand, he fizzed a couple of backhands straight down the line and as he changed sides after the first game, he turned to his box and revealed just how aggressive his mentality was.

“There's no way I'm not taking this,” he screamed to his support team. And he did.

Perhaps most importantly, Murray understood that he needed to get the crowd involved in order to drive himself to victory, and so in the middle of the mayhem, he made the conscious and logical decision to appeal to them. Immediately after the match, he had such detailed thoughts on these actions, talking about attempting to arouse the crowd that was a little tired after the day of epic theatre. In his press conference, he was even clearer.

“It's important to try to use the crowd, if you can, to your advantage, because they do make a difference,” he said. “In long matches, tough matches, even if it's half a per cent difference, it's good.”

This hardly comes easy to him. Murray has no measure of charisma on the court, a fact hammered home every day of the year but especially during the first set tiebreak when the Scot aimed a searing passing shot beyond Tsonga whilst sprinting at full speed. After this magnificent athletic feat, Murray turned to salute the crowd. But as he pumped his fist and the audience lapped it all up, Murray tripped over his own feet and awkwardly staggered.

Murray does these things because, as he said, he has been there too many times already. The context may have slightly changed, but the value of experience is so versatile. He already knows all the tiny nuances and the clearer factors that are required for him to win this slam. That’s another reason why he is favourite, and why few people would bet against him has he continues to work towards lifting the title on Sunday.