LONDON -- Milos Raonic's serves flew like the fluorescent green pellets in one of those video games Andy Murray once played for hours on end. Deliveries upwards of 140 mph headed like lasers into his body.
Raonic was bringing it, just as he had in a semifinal upset of Roger Federer. But all that firepower was proving insufficient. This was going to be Murray's day.
It was also his great chance to win Wimbledon for himself, not for an entire (United) Kingdom hungering for its first male champion in 75 years, like in 2013.
He wasn't going to let this one go, no way, no how.
He wasn't going to let Raonic serve him off the court. He wouldn't bend to the unique pressure he finally commanded as the favorite to win Wimbledon or quake in the face of the renewed expectations of his passionate, partisan countrymen.
Murray's resolve was well-founded and hard-earned. And it helped him play a superb match to overpower a first-time Grand Slam finalist in Raonic in a 2-hour, 48-minute 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) win.
"It is different," Murray, the No. 2 seed, said. "I feel happier, more content. You know, I feel like this was sort of more for myself and my team as well.
"Last time, it was just pure relief. It was such a big thing for a British man to win Wimbledon. It's something you start to think about and put more and more pressure on yourself to do. I didn't really enjoy the moment as much, whereas I'm going to make sure I enjoy this one more than the others."
Having lost all of those finals to Novak Djokovic and Federer prepared Murray for his role as the favorite. He took command of this match from the start and never loosened his grip. Raonic, one of the two or three most feared servers in the game, managed to whack just eight aces (one more than Murray). He was under constant pressure to hold serve.
"I think I returned pretty good today for the most part," Murray said. "I made quite a lot of returns, second serve returns as well and just tried to build pressure that way."
But this was no ordinary day in which Murray relied solely on his superb defense to eke out a win. His offense was no less impressive; he lost just nine points on his first serve and passed with deadly precision. Raonic reached a break point just once in the match, and that was in the third set, when he was already in a deep hole.
Raonic acknowledged Murray was all business. Nothing cute. Nothing that could backfire and stoke Raonic's confidence.
"Every single time he had forehands in the middle of the court, he was really trying to hit them, not giving me two looks at a point," Raonic said. "I think that's what he did really well."
Murray's great advantage in experience paid off handsomely in the late stages of the second and third sets. Raonic, 25, had won 63 percent of his tiebreakers going into Wimbledon.
But when the pressure built to nearly intolerable levels in those stages, the release valve blew. Raonic made mistakes and poor choices. Murray won both tiebreakers handily.
"Knowing how maybe [Raonic] would have felt at those moments, being in his first Grand Slam final, I do think that helped me a little bit during the match," Murray admitted. "In those tight situations, maybe I dealt with things a little better because of my experience."
Murray is 29 and playing the best tennis of his life. He has been to five successive finals for the first time in his career. He has won a major and an ATP 1000 (Rome). This win was deeply satisfying in ways that none of his previous conquests have been -- much of it a result of his 5-month-old daughter.
This time, Murray was not going to celebrate the simplest way.
"I want to spend this time with my family and my closest friends," Murray said. "That's who I want to be around right now."
Then Murray will return to work, keeping up his reputation as one of the most diligent ATP pros. He now has won three majors in 11 tries. He said he would love to have won more but reminded everyone that the men he has spent most of his career battling are accorded, by some, to be perhaps the three greatest male players of all time.
Murray will seek ways to find more wins against them, which may not be as formidable a task as it was two or three years ago, when Rafael Nadal and Federer were younger and healthier. Murray knows it's been rare to get through a Slam without playing any of his three main rivals. But that might be changing, which would be to his advantage.
"I still feel like my best tennis is ahead of me, that I have an opportunity to win more," Murray said. "Everyone's time comes at different stages. For some, it comes in their early 20s, some mid-20s. Hopefully mine is still to come."