Wild man ready for Murray

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:38

Murray is back on Centre Court for his quarter-final, this time against Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero who is dreaming of becoming the first wild-card player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles since Goran Ivanisevic famously triumphed on People’s Monday in 2001.

Ferrero said: “Physically I feel very good. And that’s the key to recovering a bit of confidence to play again at the same level as I was playing in the past.

The British number one will be second on, and should be refreshed following his epic triumph under the new roof against Stanislas Wawrinka on Monday. Murray defeated Ferrero at Queen’s three weeks ago but the former French Open champion is in a rich vein of form and playing with confidence again for the first time in years.

Ferrero added: “I think I’m playing with a bit more rhythm. And after that match against him (Murray) of course I learnt some things. I have to be aggressive all the time because he likes to play at one level and then changes the rhythm very fast.

“It is very difficult to play against him because of this. I will try to focus on my return because his serve has been very, very big. He’s at home and wants to win and everybody wants him to win.”

The roof is unlikely to be needed as the weather forecast is wall-to-wall sunshine, but if it was then Murray would have an advantage, having sampled the humid conditions in his match against Wawrinka.

Murray believed that affected his serve but he had only praise for the support he has received.

He said: “Playing indoors always makes a difference to the atmosphere, obviously to the way the court plays. When there is noise it doesn’t get lost anywhere.

“At the end (against Wawrinka) that was probably the noisiest crowd I have played in front of. Maybe in my match last year against (Richard) Gasquet, if the roof had been on, it would have been similar. But it definitely sounds and feels much louder with the roof.”

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