By Bill Scott Jul 2, 2009, 11:24 GMT
London - There will be no confusion in the mind of at least one competitor when the crowd cheers for 'Andy' in Friday's Wimbledon semi-final between Scot Andy Murray and two-time finalist Andy Roddick.
'We might be able to count the people for me on this hand,' said the American, who will hope to utilise his huge serve to best advantage when he plays the crowd favourite and national tennis hero.
'I think the crowd's gonna be electric, it's gonna be a great atmosphere, and one that I can certainly appreciate, even if it's not for me.
'I'm just gonna pretend when they say, C'mon, Andy, that they mean me,' said the 26-year-old Roddick.
Murray holds a 4-2 record over Roddick as the Scot tries to make history this weekend for the host nation at Wimbledon, which has been without a champion for 73 years.
The Scot has won three of their last four meetings dating to 2007.
And sixth seed Roddick has taken note of Murray's rapid improvement which has taken him to third in the world.
'He's certainly capable of hitting all the shots. It's just a matter of being able to do it day after day now.
'There's a certain comfort level where you go out there and it's like second nature. I think he's acquired that since last year here.'
Murray is just trying to keep his head on straight amid the national hysteria surrounding his run into the last four.
'The hype doesn't make any difference the way you perform,' said the 22-year-old. 'If you spend the whole time reading the papers, watching everything on the TV, hearing all the things that are getting said on the radio, then you get caught up in it.'
The Murray solution: 'If you ignore it you don't realise it's happening. I don't read it because 90 percent of the stuff's gonna be pretty much untrue anyway. I just stay away from it.'
Murray is instead concentrating on what he can control - his form.
'I understand that I can lose the next match if I don't play my best. That's been one of the things that I've learned, and it's made a huge difference to me over the last year or so.
'I realise that if I don't bring my best game then I'm gonna lose to guys like Roddick.'
On the bottom of the draw, Roger Federer will be contesting his 21st consecutive Grand Slam semi-final when he takes aim at German Tommy Haas in their semi.
The Swiss second seed is hoping for history to end his fortnight, with a sixth Wimbledon title which would carry him to the all-time best of 15 Grand Slam singles titles.
Haas, 31, and finding some of his best form late in his career, lost a tight five-setter to the Swiss in Paris a month ago as Federer won that major for the first time.
'I feel like I'm playing some great tennis,' said the German, who won the first two sets in Paris and had break point for 5-3 in the third before evtually falling.
'We've had a good battle at the French, but I'm obviously realistic of who my opponent is.
'So we don't need to talk much about it. Just go out there and compete hard and see what happens,' said Haas, who has had multiple shoulder surgeries.
Federer, 27, has won the last 10 meetings between the two for an overall 11-2 advantage.
'I feel like I'm playing some great tennis. We had a good battle at the French, but I'm obviously realistic of who my opponent is. 'We don't need to talk much about it. Just go out there and compete hard and see what happens,' said Federer.
'It's fun to see also Tommy around after injury. I like a good mix, because it's not always just the young guys and me. I still like to play the guys also who I used to play when I came up and who were my main rivals for many years.'
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