Murray Not Feeling the Pressure as Britain's Last Hope
Andy Murray laughed off suggestions that he is Britain's last hope of lifting the nation's political and sporting gloom this summer.
Murray battled into the Wimbledon semi-finals was rollercoaster 7-6 (12-10) 6-1 3-6 4-6 6-1 victory over JoWilfried Tsonga on Wednesday evening.
His victory came as Wales were losing to Portugal in the Euro 2016 semi-finals in Lyon. Their exit followed England's humiliating defeat from the competition at the hands of Iceland.
Britain as a whole remains in post-Brexit turmoil and the value of the pound has plummeted. One journalist - with tongue in cheek - asked Murray: "How does it feel to be the nation's last hope?"
Murray replied: "It's not that bad, is it? Is it that bad?! There's a lot more hopes left than me. I just try my best at this event to make all the people that watch happy.
"Hopefully I can win a couple more, and that's it."
The world No 2 looked set for another comfortable outing on Centre Court when he took the first two sets of their quarter-final but Tsonga fought back to level only for Murray to prevail.
Murray has made a habit of fighting back from two sets down but this time it was Tsonga threatening to do the improbable.
Yet Murray has only ever lost once having won the first two sets and, after telling his box he was not going to lose this one, he delivered superbly to set up a last-four clash with Tomas Berdych.
"I was definitely tested a lot today," said Murray. "This was a really hard, hard match to come through.
"I think it can give you a bit of confidence. It can help to go through games and stages in matches that are challenging. If you're in that position in the next couple of matches, you know you've been there.
"So I'm hoping it helps me the next couple of rounds."
The crunch moments arrived at the start of the fifth set.
Murray's frustration was evident as he screamed at himself and his box - despite the supposedly calming presence of Ivan Lendl.