Federer aura no longer holds fear for Murray
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Andy Murray was in bullish mood ahead of the Australian Open yesterday, as you might expect for the tournament favourite, saying that he no longer gets nervous about facing Roger Federer.
"It doesn't make any difference whether people expect you to win or not," he said. "It doesn't change my mentality. You get used to being expected to win matches when you play at Wimbledon. The pressure that comes with that gets you used to these situations. The more you play against [Federer] the less fearful you are, you're not scared to win the match. If you're young and you play against the top guys, once you get close to winning you get nervous. Now I don't get nervous and if I play my best tennis I can beat him."
Murray has done that spectacularly so far this year, having won all of his eight matches, including beating Rafael Nadal once and Federer twice. He has also beaten Federer five times out of seven in his career, his only defeats coming in their first meeting at Bangkok in 2005 and in the US Open final last year.
Both players have their own dates with history in Melbourne when the tournament starts on Monday. A win for Federer would take him level with Pete Sampras on 14 Grand Slams. For Murray there is the little matter of trying to become the first British man to win a Grand Slam singles title since Fred Perry back in 1936.
He said: "It has been so long since a British tennis player has won a Slam. I'd love to win a Grand Slam, but it might not happen. You have to try to forget about all the history. It is not of benefit if you are going on the court worrying about those sort of things. You have to put them to the back of your mind. I do understand what a big deal it would be if someone from Britain did win a Slam, but I'm still very young so I'm not putting any added pressure on myself to win this Australian Open."
Despite Murray's record against Federer, the Swiss is surprised that the Briton was favourite with many bookmakers to win in Melbourne. "Who said that?" the world No 2 asked. "The bookies? Good for him. It doesn't help him a whole lot. I've been in that position before as well and didn't make it."
Britain's Anne Keothavong went out of the Moorilla Hobart International yesterday to France's Virginie Razzano 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 in the second round and Mel South went out of the Sydney International 6-2, 6-0 to Denmark's Carolina Wozniacki.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments