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.'
USA
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