WIMBLEDON, England (AP) ``Andy! Let's win one, come on!'' came a man's booming and pleading voice from high in the Centre Court crowd, with a London accent as thick as dark ale.
Sorry, mate, not this year.
Maybe, dare it be said, not ever.
Andy Murray's curse is being a tennis player in the era of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and, increasingly now, Novak Djokovic.
Two of those three are among the greatest players ever. And Djokovic can't be too bad, because on Monday he will be ranked ahead of them as the new No. 1.
And Murray? Well, Britain's best player in 70-plus years is undeniably very good, better at this Wimbledon than he has ever been.
In a less exceptional period of men's tennis, for instance in that briefest of windows between Pete Sampras' last Wimbledon title in 2000 and Federer's first in 2003, perhaps Murray would have earned his first major by now.
Instead, Murray risks becoming to tennis what Raymond Poulidor was to the Tour de France. ``The eternal second,'' the French called their beloved bear-like rider who finished runner-up three times and third four times in the 1960s and '70s.
Like Murray, Poulidor's career was cursed by spanning an era of greatness in cycling, trapping him between Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx, who both won the Tour five times.
At 24, Murray is not giving up hope. Minutes after his third consecutive Wimbledon semifinal loss 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 on Friday to Nadal, Murray was already looking ahead.
It's a very tough era, I think, in tennis. Tennis right at the top of the game is exceptional,'' he said.So not only to get level with those guys, but to push past them, you need to work harder than them. That's what I need to try to do.''
In so many ways, Murray is so close.
``I need to work 2, 3 percent harder,'' he said, giving a neat numeric gauge of just how close to Nadal, Federer and Djokovic he thinks he is.
Murray's service returns compete with Djokovic's as the best in the game right now. Repeatedly, he rocked Nadal back on his heels with returns fired at his feet.
At Wimbledon, Murray has learned to cope with the pressure of British expectation exceptionally well. It can't be easy to bear the hopes of a nation that has never seen a homegrown men's champion in color, and has only black and white newsreels of Fred Perry, in 1936, to prove to young Britons that, yes, a British man can, in fact, win on these green lawns that, every year since, have been invaded by champions from foreign shores.
Murray, sometimes sour, rarely if ever effusive, is hard to warm to. But, with time, the Wimbledon crowds have taken him into their hearts. You should have heard Centre Court roar, seen the men in blazers and ties leap to their feet and the women in smart frocks wave their Union Jack flags on small sticks, when Nadal limply fired the ball into the net to give Murray the first set.
But Murray still can't get over the hump and into the final.
Murray's mistake this time was over-hitting an easy forehand that would have given him two break points when leading 2-1 in the second set.
Players made of sterner stuff, such as Nadal, would have brushed off the disappointment and carried on. Not Murray. He lost the next seven games.
It's tough,'' he said later.But, you know, I'm giving it my best shot each time.''
Unfortunately for Murray, his best may never be enough.
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/johnleicester