Tennis: Glory in the Gloom After Dramatic Wimbledon Comeback

It may have been the moment that Andy Murray finally won over the Wimbledon faithful. With the clock pressing on for 9.30pm and a breathless Center Court steeped in semi-darkness that made watching difficult, let alone playing, the 21-year-old Scot finally banished any lingering ambivalence about his suitability as a British sporting hero.

In an epic fightback to match any late-night dramas in Wimbledon's illustrious history, Murray pulled out a series of big serves, booming backhands and scrambled rescue shots to claw his way back into his fourth-round match against eighth seed Richard Gasquet and ultimately prevail 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4.

It was, he said afterwards, "the best moment that I have ever had on a tennis court". Most of the 15,000 who saw his fist repeatedly clenched and heard the shrieks of self-encouragement will not disagree. His reward: a first ever appearance in a grand slam quarter-final.

The crowd roared its relief and chants of "Murray, Murray" rebounded round the stands after Murray sent down a final serve that Gasquet, peering through the twilight, could only flap at. The Scot flexed his biceps and issued one final triumphant roar.

But it was all a very different story a couple of hours earlier when the crowd looked on diffidently as Murray looked to be on the wrong end of a hiding in a very British capitulation.

Two sets down and 5-4 down as his opponent served to win the match, Murray finally found the shots to break back, and the crowd began to sit up. Britain might have resigned itself to its annual, oh-well shrug, but Murray had not, and by gesturing and screaming at the crowd, little by little he persuaded them to believe too.

The roar in Center Court as he clinched the pivotal third set could have lifted the new retractable roof, had it been installed in time for this year's tournament.

"It's the best support I've ever had in a match in my life," he said afterwards. "When it happens, you have to really enjoy it. I think it's very important to try to use the energy of the crowd to get on top of your opponent. At the end of the third set he obviously got a bit nervous and the crowd were awesome. After that I got ahead and they got behind me more than they ever had before."

It is unfortunate for Murray that it is only when he is being successful that he is truly considered British. The rest of the time - and he often doesn't help himself - he's a curmudgeonly Scot. As the crowds gathered by Wimbledon's big screen ahead of the match yesterday afternoon, however, it was difficult not to feel that this was a bit unjust. "Murray mount" may have been so named by an optimistic press in the hope of engendering some flag-waving in the post-Henman era, but Wimbledon's enthusiasm for Murray has never really been spontaneous.

"I don't think people's attitude to Murray is that great at the moment," said Adam Mizrahi, a student from Hammersmith who had queued in the hope of Center Court tickets but had to make do with sitting on a trailer for a better view of the big screen. "They don't like him as much as they did Henman."

The reason? "English people obviously identify more with English players," said his friend Dhananjay Talwar. "If he was English he would probably have a bit more support."

"Henman was a good middle-class boy from the Home Counties, and a lot of people here identify with him," said Brian Lund from Keyworth in Nottinghamshire, visiting the tournament, as he has done every year since 1980, with his wife Mary. "People are a bit snippy about Andy Murray, but personally I think he's a big improvement. He's got a bit more fight, a bit more personality. A bit more charisma."

How could he win his crowd round? "As soon as Murray starts to make an impact, everybody is going to warm to him. Let's face it, if he does well this week, he will be the big star and everybody is going to love him."

They were, as some of the few believers, to be proved emphatically right. In a post-match press conference, looking very weary, Murray described the crowd as "awesome".

He will need them to keep it up. His next match, on Wednesday, his first ever in a grand slam final eight, is against the number two seed Rafael Nadal.

"I'm probably not the favourite to win that," he admitted. "But it's a match that I feel I can win." Perhaps he's done enough to persuade all of Britain to believe that too.