Andy Murray admits his last match against Roger Federer was “embarrassing” and prompted a complete rethink of how he tackled the top players.
Murray set up a mouthwatering Wimbledon semi-final with Federer after he beat Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-4 7-5 6-4 while the Swiss eased past Gilles Simon, winning 6-3 7-5 6-2.
It will be Murray’s 23rd meeting with Federer, who has come out on top in their last three matches, including a 6-0 6-1 demolition of the Briton at the ATP World Tour Finals in November.
“It was obviously embarrassing, the scoreline,” Murray said. “A lot of people in my team, people around me, were very, very worried by that match. I felt quite calm about it.
“I looked at the weeks before then, the matches also that I played at the O2, the matches I played against Novak (Djokovic) over that period as well, and said, ‘Where am I going wrong against the top guys and what is it that I need to do to get back to that level competing with them?’.
“I dealt with it that way and tried to be rational about it. I came back and played some extremely good tennis at the beginning of the year in Australia.
“It was a tough loss for sure but I tried to deal with it in the right way.”
Murray’s Olympic gold-winning performance on Centre Court in 2012 remains the pair’s most recent match-up on grass and the 28-year-old will be slight favourite on the back of impressive year overall.
The British number one has enjoyed passionate support throughout the tournament but the crowd may be less unified on Friday given Federer’s wide appeal, as was the case when the Swiss won the Wimbledon final three years ago.
“I hope I get good support on Friday,” Murray said. “It’s been the case throughout the whole event and every year that I played here.
“Roger’s extremely popular everywhere he goes, so it might not be as partisan a crowd or atmosphere as some matches that I play here.
“But it will still be an excellent atmosphere. I’ll still get a boost from the crowd, I’m sure.”
Federer, who turns 34 next month, has enjoyed a renaissance under coach Stefan Edberg and Murray believes his next opponent could be competing at the top for another “three or four years” yet.
The world number two has won seven Wimbledon titles and will climb above Pete Sampras to become the tournament’s most successful men’s player of all time if he adds another this year.
“It could be three, four years at the rate he’s going just now,” Murray said.
“But it depends on a lot of things, if he wants to continue or not. The reasons he’s still at the top is he has a pretty efficient game style and he’s quite loose on the court.
“It’s very impressive that he’s managed to stay at the top of the game for so long, considering how long he’s been at the top and how many matches he’s played.
“He’s won over a thousand matches and played over 1,200 matches. That’s a lot of tennis.”
Novak Djokovic beat Marin Cilic in straight sets to move into the other semi-final, where he will face France’s Richard Gasquet.
Gasquet came through a marathon quarter-final with French Open champion Stan Wawrinka to win 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-4 11-9.