Olympic win can spur Andy Murray on to Grand Slam glory, says Tim Henman
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Your support makes all the difference.Tim Henman believes that winning the Olympic gold medal on home soil can do for Andy Murray what winning the Davis Cup two years ago in Belgrade did for Novak Djokovic.
"Djokovic played at home in a Davis Cup final, won it, and then went on to win everything," Henman said. "I don't see why that couldn't be the same for Murray. He's the one who has to go out and make that happen, but in the conditions now at the US Open it's as good a time as any."
Henman, who was speaking at the HSBC Road to Wimbledon finals at Roehampton, sees Murray and Roger Federer as joint favourites here just ahead of Djokovic, and hopes that the manner of his fellow Briton's Olympic triumph will encourage him to play a more aggressive game.
"When you talk to every coach that he's worked with they have always talked about this need for him to be more pro-active," Henman said. "There have been times when Andy has tried to make his opponent lose rather than him win the match. Now, with his experience and with all the big matches that he's played, he's understanding that he has the ability to back himself.
"It's much more fun to make someone else do the running rather than you chasing all the balls. He can do that. I think he'll do that more and more. It's inevitable as you get further on in your career and you gain more experience and are then able to take more risks."
He added: "I think we'll see Murray get more and more aggressive over the next years of his career. And I think the sooner he does it the better, because he's so good at it."
Given the speed of the courts at Flushing Meadows, Henman believes that being aggressive and dictating points is crucial. "It's probably the fastest Slam that we play," he said. "You have to play well and nobody has a better record than Federer. He was pretty unlucky last year against Djokovic. Having just won Wimbledon he'll fancy his chances."
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