Sir Alex Ferguson is barely into his retired life, yet he could not help but pass on some pearls of wisdom to fellow Scot Andy Murray after the young star scraped through his quarter final match at Wimbledon on Wednesday.
Murray is hoping to become first Brit to win a Wimbledon men’s single title since Fred Perry in 1936.
The fiery 26-year-old battled back from two-sets down to win a gruelling quarter final match with Fernando Verdasco earlier in the week.
The Scot has now revealed that after the match he spoke with Sir Alex who gave him advice to help him through the final stages at SW19.
“I spoke to him for 15 or 20 minutes after the match. We spoke about a lot of things- about his retirement, about football and then at the end I spoke to him, not so much about the match, but about everything that goes with it,” Murray said.
“He was giving me some advice on how to handle certain pressures and expectations.
“Getting that sort of advice from someone like him is gold dust so I’m not going to be sharing too much of it.”
Murray is due on Centre-court later today for his semi-final showdown with the Polish giant Jerzy Janowicz.
Janowicz, who is 6ft 8in tall, is the first Pole in history to reach a semi-final at a grand slam tournament.
The 22-year-old possesses a ferocious serve that clocked-up an impressive 140mph in his quarter final match during a service game that took just 54 seconds to win.
If Murray can overcome Janowicz’s serve and win the match then he will reach his second Wimbledon final in two years.
Murray revealed that Janowicz poses a big threat to his title hopes, he said: “He’s got a big serve and powerful groundstrokes, but he’s got a good touch and can also throw in a few drop shots.
“I’ll need to be on my game from the outset, and there might not be that many chances during the match, so I’ll have to take them when they come along,” Murray said.
“I’ll need to return well for the whole match, but it’s a strong part of my game and a challenge I’m looking forward to.”
If Murray does reach the final then he will be relieved at not having to face his conqueror from last year – ‘King of grass’, Roger Federer.
However, with World number one Novak Djokovic playing former U.S open champion, Juan Martin Del Potro, in the other semi-final there is still plenty of work for Murray to do.
Image courtesy of BBC via YouTube, with thanks
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