All eyes were on Andy Murray ever since he beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals to play Roger Federer of Switzerland for the Wimbledon title on Sunday.
The deafening applaud when he entered the centre court and the presence of big names like Prime Minister David Cameron, footballer David Beckham and Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton showed that it was not an ordinary day.
Andy Murray must have felt the pressure - the hope of a nation to see him win the Wimbledon 2012 title.
What would have happened if Murray won the Wimbledon title?
He would have entered history by becoming first British tennis player to win Wimbledon in 76 years (Fred Perry won the title in 1936). He has big chance of becoming the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award and also could be in line for a New Year's Knighthood.
All these must have been running on the back of his mind when he entered the Wimbledon final.
The fact that almost 17 million Britons (16.9 million to be precise) watched the Wimbledon final match between Murray and Federer on television showed the kind of expectations and the wish of the people to see a British win the title.
Murray went down fighting, losing 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 to Roger Federer, and thus failed to make history. Ironically, Federer rewrote history by adding one more grand slam to his previous tally of 16, which was a record. He also got back world no.1 ranking after two years.
Andy Murray might have failed to win the Wimbledon but he won the hearts pf the people. The tears that rolled down his cheeks after the defeat to Federer showed how much he had wished to win the title.
Meanwhile, he was graceful in defeat.
"I'm getting closer," said an emotional Murray after losing to Federer. "I was told after my semi-final that this was my best chance, Roger's 30 now, but he's not bad for a 30-year-old, he played a great tournament. Congratulations, you deserve it."
