Murray keeping feet on ground
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'Murraymania' may be ready to grip Wimbledon but the British number one is not about to get carried away by all the hype just yet.
The 21-year-old Scot will have some more practice time at the All England Club before he takes on veteran Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
Andy Murray has never been past the fourth round of a Grand Slam but has come a long way in his young career, landing a first ATP title at San Jose in January 2006.
The world number 11, seeded 12 for the tournament, would become the first home winner of the men's singles title at SW19 in some 72 years.
Murray said: 'The first time I played Wimbledon I was so excited about everything. Every media thing that got requested I was like 'yeah, I'll do it'.
'It was after Wimbledon that it started to get quite difficult because there were a lot of people starting to give opinions on my game and telling me what I had to do to get better.'
He added: 'That's when it becomes hard, when you are not used to hearing loads of different voices and hearing about yourself when, literally, before Wimbledon, I was playing in events in front of 10 people and nobody was really that bothered about how I was getting on.'
The partisan SW19 crowd may now have found a new favourite to consign 'Henman Hill' and 'Rusedski Ridge' to the shadows of 'Murray Mount', but the young Scot insists he will put no more pressure on himself than for any other tournament, no matter how special Wimbledon is held by the British public.
He said: 'I haven't felt any extra pressure this week than I have in the past. I've played very well in practice and I've played well in the lead up and I think I'm well prepared so I've got a lot to look forward to.'
Murray - who is the bottom half of the draw along with world number two and French Open champion Rafael Nadal, a potential quarter-final opponent - added: 'You don't want to force people to get behind you because if they want to support you then they'll support you.
'Every time I've played Wimbledon the support has been awesome. I'm guessing this year is going to be the same.'
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