Graphic: Best of British

The photographers were bemused that Andy Murray could not be persuaded to raise much of a smile or pitch the London Grass Court Cup above head height for as long as they were demanding.

Their reaction was music to the ears. This is a nice one to win — Murray is the first Briton to triumph in the event for 71 years, he earned a decent cheque, it was on grass and only a week before Wimbledon — but that is all it amounts to.

Murray became the first AEGON champion at Queen’s Club, West London, yesterday and there were more than a few hints in his 7-5, 6-4 victory over James Blake, that the burden of being a British player expected to leave the field in his wake on home turf is a peculiarly onerous one. The diffidence of Murray’s celebration — a peck on the cheek for Judy, his mum, aside — spoke volumes about the depth of his character.

The snappers may have wanted to see a player wreathed in smiles, but even five wins in five days, all of them in straight sets, is no reason for a Highland fling. Murray, 22, wants to temper the adulation, stifle the praise, put a lid on the expectation and try to prepare as coolly and calmly as he can for the ventures to come.

It will not be easy, of course. Today, in full view of the cameras, he will model the new kit that he is to bear at Wimbledon for Fred Perry. The clothing manufacturer is named after the famed Lancastrian who, of all the varied things he did in an extraordinarily colourful life, never celebrated with the Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy on the Queen’s lawns. We are promised bold images of a dapper Murray, a young man respectful of the past and undaunted by the future.

In becoming the first of five British finalists since Bunny Austin defeated Sin-Khie Kho, of China, 6-2, 6-0 in 1938 not to be broken by the opportunity, Murray clinched his twelfth tour title and his first on grass. He achieved it with aplomb, serving as consistently well as he has done in a tournament week, moving with a grace that belies a sometimes lumbering appearance and, as soon as he had the measure of an opponent — Blake was particularly tricky because he does not strike a conventionally consistent ball — accelerating ahead of them without a backward glance.

That he was apprehensive yesterday was to be expected. This was a novelty for him. He broke first and was immediately broken back, which does not happen very often. Then he so stunned Blake by reaching a midservice box slice with deft racket-head control and a sidespun slice of his own that the American, ranked No 16 in the world, promptly dropped his next service game when he misread a flighted return and raked a forehand out of court.

One break was enough in the second set, secured in the seventh game by one of those crisp backhand service returns that are the Murray métier. A Lleyton Hewitt-like disguised fist-pump greeted his success in 67 minutes, around the norm for his matches this week. Now we move on, and up.

Tomorrow, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal arrive in London to begin to piece together their grass-court games; the Swiss still on one of the biggest sporting highs of his life after winning his first French Open title in Paris, the Spaniard — who won at Queen’s last year in his fullest pomp — needing the simple security of feeling good about running around without any throbbing pain in his knees.

Murray was asked whether he thought that because he had been hitting tennis balls against an opponent while the world No 1 and No 2 were imagining it, he was at an advantage. “I can only talk for myself and say it’s been very good preparation,” he said.

“I’d be very confident if I’d just won the French Open and Nadal is someone who likes a lot of matches, but we won’t know until he steps out on to the court.

“I don’t think it’s impossible [to win Wimbledon] but I go into every tournament with that mentality. I know it will have to be my best tennis ever to do it and that’s why no one in Britain has done it for such a long time, it is very difficult.

“I’m not planning to get caught up in the whole hype because that isn’t going to help with what I want to do. I’m just going to live normally and not do anything I wouldn’t normally do.” Let us hope he can.