Andy Murray
Andy Murray

UK tennis number 1 Andy Murray has moved to dampen the nation's hopes for Wimbledon glory by insisting, "nothing beats the Olympics".

The Brit's Wimbledon semi-final victory over Jerzy Janowicz was this year's most watched TV moment in the UK, and many now rate Murray as capable of beating Novak Djokovic, as he did at this year's US Masters.

But the pressure on the 25-year-old is immense, with Brits having waited 77 years for a men's singles winner at the famous All England Club in SW19. The last British player to win was Fred Perry, in 1936.

Tickets for today's match are changing hands for mind-blowing sums - one pair has sold for £71,000.

Yet Murray said beating the Swiss master Roger Federer to land gold at last year's Olympic Games in London was better.

He said: "I don't know if I'll ever have the sort of feelings like I had that day," he said

"Winning Olympic gold here, a home Olympics. I'll never get the opportunity to do that again.

"It was probably one of the proudest moments of my career. I don't know if I'll ever top that."

Djokovic and Murray are, respectively, the number one and two seeds in the tournament and Murray vowed he won't let nerves ruin his chances this afternoon.

Murray burst into tears after losing last year's Wimbledon final to Federer. That experience, and winning the US Masters, will surely help him this time.

He said: "I think I'll be probably in a better place mentally. I would hope so just because I've been there before.

"I've won a Grand Slam - I would hope I would be a little bit calmer going into Sunday."

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic

Djokovic knows the 15,000-strong crowd on centre court will be against him.

The world number 1 from Serbia admitted: "He has a big chance to win Wimbledon after a long time for this nation. People will be supporting him.

"I'm going to play against one of the biggest tennis players in the world in last five years. I'm ready for it."

Djokovic has the upper hand in meetings with Murray. He has won 11 of the 18 matches between the pair. Murray has beaten Djokovic just once at a Grand Slam - the US Masters last year. But Murray won the only time the pair met on grass, in last year's Olympic semi-final.

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