Murray Eyes Another Slam Celebration At Home

Andy Murray is drawing plenty of attention for his dominant form so far at Wimbledon, but said the expectations to continue that level of play don’t have any affect on him. 

The second seed dropped just six games in defeating Yen-Hsun Lu on Thursday. Murray has been joined by other British players in making headlines this week with their inspired tennis, including Marcus Willis and Dan Evans, but said he’s learned how to block out the added attention he gets from the British public.

“I don’t think it changes anything in my mind. I’ve played here when there’s been big competitions going on elsewhere in different sports or when some of the other Brits have made deep runs, as well. It makes absolutely zero difference to me [in] how I perform and how I play,” said Murray. “When the attention’s been on me a lot, I’ve played well.  When it hasn’t, I’ve also played well.”

Next up for Murray is John Millman, who defeated No. 26 seed Benoit Paire on Thursday to reach the third round at Wimbledon for the first time. Murray defeated Millman in their only career meeting in Brisbane in 2013, but credited the Australian with his rise up the Emirates ATP Rankings since then.

“He played extremely well that day. He was ranked about 200 at the time.  I came off the court and I said to Danny Vallverdu, who I was working with, ‘He’s Top 50 for sure if he keeps going,’” said Murray. “He moves well and has a great attitude, but obviously this is a different surface and different place. “ 

Murray would love nothing more than to capture his second Wimbledon title. He said experiencing the impact that his Grand Slam victories have had on his hometown marks among his proudest moments on or off the court.

“When I went back to Dunblane after the US Open [in 2012], it was really special for me. It meant a lot to see a lot of old school friends, the town where I grew up, loads of people on the streets,” said Murray. “I had no idea how many people were going to turn up that day. Obviously it was one of the most special days of my life for a number of reasons.”