I’LL HANDLE THE PRESSURE
Murray stays calm as a nation expects him to deliver again
Anation expects as andy Murray gets used to the first-time status of favourite during the second week of a Grand Slam after the early departure of his arch-nemesis novak Djokovic.
Murray insists, however, that he is feeling no more pressure than usual as the British second seed stands three wins from a second Wimbledon title. the next step comes against Jo-Wilfried tsonga in today’s quarter-finals.
Ever since world no1 Djokovic’s shock defeat by american Sam Querrey on Saturday, many prematurely feel Murray has one hand on the trophy.
the man himself is unperturbed by the idea of any extra weight on his shoulders.
‘i haven’t noticed any real difference, to be honest,’ said the 29-year-old. ‘i’ve won Grand Slams before. i think for guys that haven’t that are still in the draw, they’re looking at it and seeing an opportunity for themselves.
‘i deal with my own expectation. i expect to play my best tennis at these events and put a large amount of pressure on myself to do so, which i don’t think people always appreciate.
‘What the bookies say is completely irrelevant. Since i’ve been playing Wimbledon the last 10 years, i’d probably say seven or eight of those years, the expectation has been extremely high and the pressure’s been unbelievably high.
‘that’s exactly the same this year regardless of who’s in the draw or not and it will be the same until i’m done playing tennis.’
although Murray is an avid viewer of tennis on television, he often turns off the commentary to avoid unnecessary distractions.
this particular fortnight, the mute button on his remote has always been pressed when John McEnroe is on, due to his coaching involvement with rival Milos Raonic. ‘it’s not that i don’t like them (the commentators)’, said Murray. ‘i just don’t like listening to commentary because you get people saying stuff and a lot of them work with players now, so they’re also making comments. ‘i like Lleyton Hewitt, i like Jim Courier, i like Mark Petchey from the British guys. i quite like listening to Peter Fleming — i think he’s a bit different. i normally like listening to Johnnie Mac but i wouldn’t listen to him now that he’s working with another player.’ one of Murray’s most disappointing Grand Slam defeats came at the hands of tsonga in the first round of the australian open in 2008, but since then he has won 11 of their 12 meetings. the Frenchman is a flashy player who can cause problems for anyone but return of serve has been a common problem against Murray. ‘i’m very confident on my capacity to play great tennis and beat players like andy,’ said tsonga. ‘For me the biggest challenge is to break him because i know i’m able to hold my serve. all the times i played him, i didn’t break him enough. it’s going to be the key. ‘to be honest, i don’t think he’s got a lot of pressure. He won here already, he won the olympic Games, he won the US open, he has won so many tournaments. ‘i think he’s feeling good in his body today. He doesn’t feel the pressure at all.’