ANDY MURRAY will rely on his coach Ivan Lendl to help him cope with a new kind of Wimbledon pressure.
After the shock defeat of defending champ Novak Djokovic, Murray goes into the second week as the clear favourite for the first time in his career.
Writing in his BBC column, the British No 1 said: “Ivan Lendl is a great person to have on the team when expectations start to build around me because he’s been through the same experience himself.
“The year I won Wimbledon, I was seeded to meet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals and Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal in the semi-finals but they all went out early.
“I remember that made it hard in terms of everyone focusing on me from early in the tournament and I spoke with Ivan about it at the time because it’s an extra thing to deal with.
“The difference between this year and 2013 is those players were all in my section of the draw.
“So their losses had quite a direct effect, whereas Novak Djokovic losing on Saturday won’t have any bearing on me at all unless I reach the final.
“The players left in my section of the draw are still formidable.”
And even if Murray does make it all the way to Sunday’s final, a certain Roger Federer may well be waiting.
Djokovic’s exit was also a massive boost to No 3 seed Federer’s dreams of winning an eighth Wimbledon title — and a first Slam since he beat Murray here in the 2012 final.
If Federer were to extend his own record to 18 Major singles crowns, Djokovic’s hopes of overhauling him would fade significantly as he has 12.
And Swiss legend Federer, 34, said: “Of course it affects every player here that Novak is out.
“He was the defending champion here at Wimbledon, he won the last four Slams. So, of course, he was the big favourite.
“Now all that pressure shifts to a lot of other guys, particularly Murray, maybe myself and others. But it’s an opportunity and that can also play tricks on some players’ minds.
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“So you just need to focus on your next match. Mine is against Steve Johnson.”
Murray’s next hurdle is Aussie firebrand Nick Kyrgios.
He has already been fined twice for his behaviour at Wimbledon and is now arguably the biggest obstacle between the Scot and the final.
The No 2 seed sees something of himself in Kyrgios, 21, both in terms of the intense spotlight on the young Aussie and his pal’s potential to win Grand Slams in the future.
Murray said: “I have never really seen him in a bad mood off the court. He has always been nice.
“Obviously on it, like I have many times and loads of players have in the past, he has done stuff that is wrong.
“I chat to him all the time about loads of stuff.
“A little bit about basketball. We chat a lot about tennis as well.
“Maybe sometimes he says he doesn’t care that much about tennis but he does care, he does like it and knows all the players well. He knows their games and stuff.
“He is improving all the time. He has performed, out of the younger guys, probably the best in the Slams.
“Dominic Thiem, obviously, at the French did very well but, overall, Nick has played well in Australia, has played some good stuff in Paris and also here he has been pretty consistent as well.
“I know how difficult these events are to win but he will definitely give himself chances.”
Murray’s first job is to make sure this is not one of them.
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