Andy Murray Ignores the Hype Amid Wimbledon's Home Comforts

The lightning that flickered all around Wimbledon as Andy Murray rushed to a crushing 6–2, 6–3, 6–4 third-round victory over Serbia's Viktor Troicki on Saturday evening has singularly not played around the Scot's manicured head so far this tournament. His first three matches were pretty much drama-free, with Murray moving around the Centre Court, his home from home, with a calm authority many have likened to that of Roger Federer, the five-times champion. And the Murray serve has also had everyone talking, for on grass it has developed into a weapon of deadly pace and accuracy. "I didn't have a chance on it," said Troicki. "I couldn't read it throughout the match."

Murray knows well enough that these first three matches have been little more than a prologue. Beginning today, with his fourth-round match against Stanislas Wawrinka, the action begins in earnest, and the pressure grows incrementally. "I can't afford to worry about who I might be playing in the quarters or semi-finals. If I take my eye off the ball against someone like Stan I'm going to lose. I just have to focus on this match and make sure I do what I've been doing so far in the tournament," he said. " I'm playing smart, and if can serve well again then I can win."

Wimbledon is unique among the four slams in that there is no play on the middle Sunday. Yesterday players practiced on the adjacent Aorangi courts and strolled around the walkways with their coaches, family or friends, clearing their heads for today when all 16 men's and women's fourth-round matches are due to be played. It is as if, after the frenetic atmosphere of Saturday when queues to get into the ground were closed at 8am, that the tournament begins again after yesterday's day of rest. For Murray all was routine. He played tennis football with his team, hit, had a massage and an ice bath, and then ate. The same as every rest day, be it here, Melbourne, New York, Paris or any other tournament. Routine is of the essence, for from this comes peace of mind.

The last time he played Wawrinka, and they are good friends, was at the same stage of last year's US Open when Murray went on to reach his first slam final. He beat the Swiss in straight sets, conceding only seven games. "I will try to be aggressive because that's my game," said Wawrinka, though there seems no obvious reason why Murray should not win with the same relative ease he displayed against Troicki and the Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Wednesday's potential quarter-final against either Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero or Gilles Simon of France appears to carry no huge threat either.

The obvious danger is a sharp dip in form, or an opponent playing out of his skin, as happened in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January when Murray lost to Fernando Verdasco of Spain. The difference here is that Murray will have the Centre Court crowd to lift him in adversity. "You can get into a nice routine of playing on the same court and the atmosphere has been great. When I did lose a set against Robert Kendrick they really got behind me when they needed to."

Murray has repeatedly emphasized what it means to be playing in front of a home crowd. "It makes a big difference. I said from the start that I played well above my level at my first Wimbledon because of that, even on Court One." Since he made his Wimbledon debut in 2005, and played his third-round match against Argentina's David Nalbandian on Center Court, he has never struck a ball anywhere else. Today will be his 14th consecutive match there. "Having 15,000 people supporting you makes a huge difference to your performance. And it is tough for an opponent to gain any momentum if you can get ahead of them." So far, those fans have not needed to step up the volume as they did in last year's fourth-round, seesawing five-setter against France's Richard Gasquet, while such was the brutal nature of Murray's quarter-final defeat by Rafael Nadal that a crowd twice as big would not have been able to lift him.

No Nadal to stymie him this year, just Federer chasing a record 15th slam – and the hype. "It makes absolutely zero difference at all to the way you perform on court, because it's hype. It is what everybody else is saying. It is not what I'm saying. I need to play my best this week to win. I'm going to try and do that."

No roof action yet, though should it be necessary to close it with Murray on court and winning, then all £100m of it may just be raised off its rollers.