“I am much more relaxed because of the home support I am getting,” says local-boy Andy Murray after his impressive win over his Russian counterpart Mikhail Youzhny on Monday. He won the match in straight sets by 6-4, 7-6,6-1 and is looking forward to his match with Fernando Verdasco which he will play on Wednesday.
Murray is quite confident that pressure won’t affect him, especially what he has gone through in past year or so. He was quoted by Indian Express saying, "There's always pressure coming into this event and it builds with each match. But, I've dealt with it well over my career. I've played well at Wimbledon. It's been consistently my best slam over the course of my career.”
He added, "So that's partly down to the surface and partly down to enjoying playing in front of a home crowd and being able to kind of block everything else out. I work extremely hard to give myself the best chance to do well here.”
The British is feeling much more relaxed after the first week of Wimbledon which saw many upsets. Murray was quoted by Hindustan Times saying, "I just think the nature of how the tournament's gone, there were a few days where it was just strange. I think everyone was a bit on edge, a little bit uptight because of what was happening with the injuries, withdrawals, upsets and stuff. I felt a little bit more relaxed over the weekend and even calmer before the match today."
With the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal already been shown the doors, chances of Murray lifting the title is quite strong but he is not dreaming about that and wants to go with an approach of taking one match at a time.
"I don't read everything that's getting said and I'm not out and about on the street speaking to people about the tournament," he said.
He was quoted by Times of India saying, "I'm with the guys that I work with. I talk to them about each match individually. We don't get ahead of ourselves because you can't afford to do that. There are a lot of tough opponents left in the draw. Verdasco's playing very well this week as well. He's extremely dangerous when he's on his game.”
Expressing his concern over the unfamiliarity of the game that Verdasco plays he said, "I haven't played a left hander the whole year, which I think is pretty amazing six months into the year. I'll try and get a lefty in to serve at me tomorrow."
He cleared the air on his fitness levels by saying, "I had probably about 20 minute longer treatment than I had done the last few days. “
“Obviously, a few weeks ago I missed the French Open. I don't want it to be a case of things creeping back up on me. I want to take care of my body. It's my main priority this tournament," he concluded.