Wimbledon: Final stage is set for Great Britain's Andy Murray

Briton tennis standout hoping to repeat last summer's Olympic success at Wimbledon men's final on home court against top seed Novak Djokovic.

Andy Murray will face world No 1 Novak Djokovic for the third time in the last four grand slam finals, with the Scot winning his first slam title at the US Open last September before his rival gained Show more

LONDON // Andy Murray goes into his second Wimbledon final Sunday confident he will benefit from last year's experience as he bids to reach the "pinnacle" of tennis.

That is how the world No 2 described the Wimbledon singles title, which no British man has won since Fred Perry in 1936.

Murray will face world No 1 Novak Djokovic for the third time in the last four grand slam finals, with the Scot winning his first slam title at the US Open last September before his rival gained revenge in Australia in January.

a

Victory in New York and Murray's Olympic triumph at the All England Club last summer meant the expectation was higher than ever when he arrived at Wimbledon two weeks ago.

But it is the experience of 12 months ago, when he lost to Roger Federer before sobbing his way through a post-match speech, that he feels will stand him in good stead.

Murray said: "I think I learned a lot from last year's Wimbledon. The whole grass-court season last year I learned a lot from.

"The one thing that stands out is I knew how I needed to play the big matches, or try to play the big matches, after Wimbledon, because I didn't come away from that final doubting myself or the decisions I made on the court, because I went for it.

"I lost, but I didn't have any regrets.

"I think I'll be probably in a better place mentally. I would hope so just because I've been there before. I won a grand slam. I would hope I would be a little bit calmer.

"But you don't know. You don't decide that. I might wake up on Sunday and be unbelievably nervous, more nervous than I ever have been before. But I wouldn't expect to be."

But Murray is not sure anything could better the elation of Olympic gold or the relief of winning a first grand slam final at the fifth attempt.

He said: "Winning Olympic gold, I don't know if I'll ever have feelings like I had that day. 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 leads their match-up rivalry 11-7 and has won the last three meetings, while Murray won their only previous match on grass in the semi-finals of the Olympics.

Their matches have mostly been close and increasingly long, and Murray feels neither has the psychological edge.

"It depends on the day," he said. "Sometimes it can depend on how the match starts. Sometimes one player can be extremely nervous before. We'll have to wait and see."

Murray believes it is Djokovic's physical fitness that enables him to be so strong mentally

"He's extremely fit physically, and that's why he's able to fight until the last point of every match."

Follow us