Wimbledon Tennis 2012 Finals: Experienced Roger Federer Will Drop Andy Murray

Andy Murray has never been here before.

In fact, no British man has since 1938.

When Murray enters the All England Club for the finals of Wimbledon against Roger Federer on Sunday, he’ll do so with the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders.

This is his first time at the finals of Wimbledon, while Federer is seeking his seventh career win at the event. The experience factor couldn’t be more lop-sided.

History resides on Federer’s side.

Fed-Ex has defeated Murray in their two previous Grand Slam finals matchups in straight sets (’08 U.S. Open and ’10 Australian Open), and has won five of the last seven head-to-head matches.

There is no doubt Murray is going to endure a serious lack of sleep Saturday night as he reviews his recent matches against Federer in his head over and over again.

Federer is arguably the greatest tennis player the world has ever seen. Certainly this is the case on a grass surface. His performance against Novak Djokovic in the semis was outstanding. He still has the ability to move with blazing fast speed and pack a serious punch with his serve.

But that’s not to say Murray doesn’t have a terrific serve as well.

According to Wimbledon.com, Murray ranks fifth in aces in the tournament (74), while Federer comes in at ninth (59).

To me, the big difference is upstairs.

Federer is one cool customer. I’ll never forget his outstanding perseverance when he fell behind 29th ranked Julien Benneteau two sets, only to make a stunning comeback, culminating in a 6-1 final set early in the week.

Nothing rattles a guy who has competed in 23 Grand Slam finals in his career. The 30-year-old is as focused as he’s been in a while, fully knowing this may be his last chance to take home title No. 7 at Wimbledon. He had a mere 10 unforced errors against Djokovic and won 72 percent of his second serves.

This tells us just how locked in Fed-Ex is right now.

Murray has only been in three Grand Slam finals, but at the age of 25 still has plenty of excellent tennis in front of him. Obviously he is dying to win the title, but the urgency that Federer is playing with isn’t there.

Expect Federer to win the first set and watch the pressure slowly melt Murray into unforced errors and shaky serves.  

Murray’s mental makeup has come a long way, but it’s still not good enough to defeat a legend desperate to win one last Grand Slam event.

Prediction: Federer in four sets.

Follow Eric Ball on Twitter