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Roof can help Murray win

Wimbledon - Fred Perry did not need a roof to win Wimbledon but it might help Andy Murray end one of sport's longest droughts.

Murray will play Rafael Nadal on Friday for a place in Sunday's final at the All England Club after defeating France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-2 in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

With England's footballers already eliminated from the World Cup, the British sporting public have pinned its hopes on fourth-seeded Murray becoming the nation's first men's champion at Wimbledon since 1936.

"It's obviously been a huge, huge wait for us, and it's still obviously going on now," said Murray, who just as easily could have been talking about the weight on his shoulders since former British No.1 Tim Henman's retirement.

"It's something that's kind of joked about amongst players and people within tennis, about how long it's been since someone British has won at Wimbledon."

Murray said he had been able to draw on the enthusiasm of the Centre Court crowd without letting their expectations affect him adversely.

"Just by playing here and playing in big matches, you know to put ... everything to the back of your mind," he said.

But he said the atmosphere was greater inside the stadium since the roof was introduced last year.

"A lot of the crowd is kind of covered so I think the noise stays in even better now," he said.

"Like in every other sport, having home advantage is very important." Ask Robin Soderling, who double-faulted on Court 1 against Nadal after a huge cheer from the crowd watching Murray's match on a giant screen on the terrace known as 'Henman Hill', or nowadays 'Murray Mount', broke his concentration.

Due to the schedule, Murray has had limited opportunities to watch Nadal's progress this year but did find the time to watch the Spaniard's five-set struggles against Dutchman Robin Haase and German Philipp Petzschner.

Murray said his victory over Nadal in the semifinals of the Australian Open, only his third from 10 matches between the pair, was "totally irrelevant" to Friday's match.

Murray conceded Nadal would start the clear favorite but said the biggest problem he needed to overcome lay in his head.

"There's not one way to play against him," he said. "You don't want to leave the ball in the middle of the court to his forehand, because you'll do a lot of running.

"Psychologically I need to believe that I can win the match, that's the most important thing. I know it's going to be an incredibly difficult match to win, but one I believe I can if I play well."

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