ANDY BID TO BE MAC-NIFICENT

ABOVE: Andy Murray

ANDY Murray wants to serve up more mind games in his bid to be king of Wimbledon.

Tennis ace Murray insists he’d like to see more cricket-style sledging and the psychological warfare used by his court hero John McEnroe.

And the World No.3 reckons the words as weapons used by Superbrat McEnroe – now a BBC pundit – would liven up matches and give fans a thrill at SW19.

“McEnroe said that he used it as a sort of tactic,” said Murray.

“I wish there was more of it going on, it makes it more interesting to watch. There is quite a lot of psychology in it but rarely will you see guys sledging each other across the net.” 

Murray, 22, picks out World No.1 seed Rafa Nadal’s ploy of riling an opponent to gain the upper hand.

“It’s just little things, like Nadal always likes to cross the net second. So he waits,” said Murray, talking to former Soccer AM star Tim Lovejoy for his website channelbee.com.

As well as stand-offs at the net, the Scot says other players on the tour use their own tactics to gain an edge.  

“When players hit an ace or a good shot they want to use the same ball for the next point,” said Murray. “So sometimes their opponent will hold it and wait until the time is up before they throw it back.”

Football-mad Murray, who has just bought shares in Scottish outfit Stirling Albion – the team for which his grandad played – says the FA Cup Final-style atmosphere on Centre Court with its new roof can be an advantage.

“Wimbledon and the US Open are the two biggest tournaments in the world,” he said. 

“The grand slams are all huge but obviously for me Wimbledon’s special because of the support and stuff.

“It’s a huge advantage and everyone says with that there is a lot of pressure and expectation.

“But in football if you are playing at home everyone’s like, ‘huge advantage for the home team’.

“I don’t see any difference with tennis, when you have the whole crowd behind you it makes a huge difference.

“And it makes a big difference if I play all my matches on Centre Court. I am not going to get held up by the weather, which the rest of the guys that are playing on other courts might.

“Hopefully I’ll always be on schedule. I always played indoors when I was growing up in Scotland because of the weather.”

And after seeing off Serb Viktor Troicki yesterday, Murray is on course to raise the Wimbledon roof.

Watch Tim’s Andy Murray interview every day this week at channelbee.com

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