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Wimbledon: I'm happy to play under the roof again, says Andy Murray
Andy Murray insisted he would have no problem with playing under the Centre Court roof again after storming into the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time.
Murray served 18 aces as he raced to a 7-5 6-3 6-2 quarter-final victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero in just an hour and 43 minutes, winning 11 of 13 games from 3-1 down in the second set.
The 22-year-old Scot will now prepare for his semi-final with Andy Roddick tomorrow, when the prospect of rain could see the roof in use again, as it was for his fourth-round win over Stanislas Wawrinka on Monday.
That match did not finish until 10:39pm, the latest ever at Wimbledon and Murray was unhappy at the short notice he was given that the roof would stay closed, as well as the humidity on court.
But asked if he feared a repeat occurrence, the Scot said: "No, not at all. I think it was kind of made out that I was complaining about the roof, I wasn't at all.
Slower
"I was asked how the conditions were and I gave an honest and pretty fair assessment. It does play slower, which is not a complaint. It's more humid.
"It doesn't make a difference to how I'm going to approach the match, you just have to alter your game style slightly because it's a slower court. But I don't mind if it's indoors or outdoors.
"The one thing I think is important is that if you are going to play under the roof, you know half an hour in advance. That's all that I would ask for, which I don't think is unreasonable."
After going 3-1 ahead in the second set, there was little that Ferrero could do to bother Murray once the British number one upped his game considerably.
Murray won the next five games to win the set 6-3 and was equally ruthless in the third, but insisted he was still not looking ahead to a possible final with five-time champion Roger Federer.
"I can lose the next match if I don't play my best," added Murray, only the third British man after Roger Taylor and Tim Henman to reach the semi-finals in the open era.
"That's been one of the things I've learned and it's made a huge difference to me over the last year or so.
"I feel confident because I've won a lot of matches on grass, but every day when I get up to play, I know that I'm going to have to perform very well and that gets the nerves and the adrenaline going and makes me play better."
Ferrero, the first wild card to reach the quarter-finals since eventual winner Goran Ivanisevic in 2001, was quick to pay tribute to Murray.
Asked about Murray's chances of winning the title, the 29-year-old former world number one said: "He's playing very well. He's moving well on the court and he's serving well.
"when you are serving like this it's very difficult to lose. I think he's also one of the best returners on a grass court.
“He returns everything, it doesn’t matter how you serve.”
Meanwhile, Lleyton Hewitt today backed Murray to beat Roddick and become the first male British player to reach the Wimbledon final since 1938.
Hewitt, the 2002 champion who lost to Roddick in the quarter-final yesterday, said: “I think it’s going to be a tough one for Roddick to win.
“When I’ve seen Andy Murray at his best, I think he matches up extremely well against Roddick. It’s going to be an interesting match.
“A couple of years ago I saw them play here because they were in my section and Murray took care of him convincingly.
“Murray is a lot better player now than he was then. Roddick’s going to have to play a big match to beat him.”
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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