Australian Open 2012 live stream

For all the money generated by Wimbledon, for all the history and tradition surrounding that famous championship, Britain is a country in desperate need.

It has been 74 years since the faithful last had a male Grand Slam champion to cheer, and the Poms are getting restless. Every year, as Wimbledon comes around, the nation sits uncomfortably on the edge of its seat (it is a pretty big seat – there are 60 million of us) and prays. Is this the year that Tim/Greg/Andy/insert-name-of-bloke-with-clean-shorts-and-racquet-here, wins the title?

Apparently not, and every summer, our hopes are dashed.

But over the last couple of years, the desperate hope has turned into real belief thanks to the rise and rise of Andy Murray. For the first time in generations, we have a player capable of beating the best players in the world, and beating them regularly.

Murray is through to his first Australian Open semi-final – and his third Grand Slam semi-final in all – and is playing the tennis of his life. Standing between him and a place in the final is Marin Cilic, the tall Croat with a seemingly bottomless well of energy.

Cilic is a year younger than Murray at 21, and took a little longer than the Scot to make his mark on the senior game after he emerged from the junior ranks. But with Bob Brett, that wise old head who has guided the likes of Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic, at his side, Cilic began his charge to the top.

“He's a very good teacher,” Cilic said of Brett. “I'm with him already several years, and he knows how I breathe, how I stand on the court, what things he could give me, which advices in which moment. So he knows me pretty well. Obviously, he's very experienced. He helped me a lot in this Grand Slam level. Without him, the achievement would be very tough to get to.”

Cilic has never before reached the last four of a major event, and now that he is here, he is trying hard not to think about what it all means. Brett will be an invaluable help in keeping Cilic’s impressively large feet on the ground. This is all new to the Croat and, after spending 18 hours on court already to get to this stage, he cannot afford to waste so much as an extra ounce of nervous energy as he takes on Murray.

The simple nuts and bolts of the match are that Murray has beaten Cilic three times in four meetings. The last time they played, Cilic won in straight sets in the fourth round of the 2009 US Open. At the time, Murray was struggling with a wrist injury, and while he did not use the injury as an excuse for the loss, it clearly hampered him. Their other matches are better form guides and even if Murray won them all, they were mighty tight. Cilic is a threat to anyone’s ambitions – and anyone in a semi-final is within touching distance of a Grand Slam title.

The tension is building back in Britain. On the basis of the rankings, their head-to-head record and on Murray’s performance against Rafael Nadal on Tuesday night, he should be the favourite to reach the final – and we Poms are not used to having Grand Slam finalists.

John Lloyd reached the last round here in Melbourne in 1977, but until Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski arrived on the scene in the 90s, the Brits were not a regular fixture at major events beyond the bounds of SW19. When Rusedski reached the US Open final in 1997 – and lost to Pat Rafter – the nation could not believe it.

Imagine, then, the excitement when Henman and Rusedski played each other at Melbourne Park in the third round back in 2002. The BBC cleared its schedules to show the match live, the sports desks cleared the back pages to make way for news of the “The Battle of Britain”, and back in Blighty, everyone held their breath. Henman won. Hurrah. Now he will win the title. But Henman didn’t win the title. In fact, he got sploshed by Jonas Bjorkman in the next round. Normal service had been resumed.

And then Murray reached the US Open final in 2008, and the emotionally-retarded Brits went potty.

He had beaten Nadal to get to the final and he faced Roger Federer when he got there, the same Federer he had beaten several times in the past. Murray lost in straight sets, but the Brits realised that it would not be Murray’s only Grand Slam final – and he might win one of them in the not-so-distant future. If he does it here, we will be able to hear the Pommie squeals of delight from here as a normally reserved nation, one brought up on decades of disappointment and failure, goes nuts.

But Cilic, too, comes from a fiercely proud sporting country and it, too, will go bonkers if their man gets to the final. Croatia may only have declared its independence in 1991 and it may only boast a population of 4.4 million, but it does have a Grand Slam champion to its name in the shape of Ivanisevic, the 2001 Wimbledon winner. When he went home to Split after his victory, more than 100,000 lined the streets to greet him. He responded – as only he could – by stripping down to his underpants and throwing his clothes to the adoring throng. And Goran in his knickers is a lovely sight. Sport matters in Croatia, and they know how to celebrate a win.

By the end of Thursday night, we will know the name of the first of the two Australian Open finalists. And we will also know whether there will be dancing in the streets of Auchtermuchty or Zrinski Topolovac.