• Wimbledon

Rusedski tells Murray to get 'selfish'

Greg Rusedski says Andy Murray has the talent but needs the right mentality © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Davydenko: We all laugh at 'special' Murray
  
• News: Djokovic not dwelling on French failure
  
• News: Murray not worried by pre-Wimbledon slump
  
• Profile: Andy Murray

ESPN will be providing extensive coverage of Wimbledon, with live scores, commentary and analysis and you can follow it all with our live scorecentre

Wimbledon preview

Greg Rusedski believes Andy Murray needs to shield himself from the public glare over the next two weeks if he is to have a chance of winning Wimbledon.

Murray is once again the brightest hope for a home victory at the All England Club, which only brings increased expectations and demands on the current world No. 4.

Rusedski believes the Scot has the talent to win the tournament, but believes he will need to be more "selfish" and shy away from some of the media requests and external distractions he will receive if he is to achieve that ambition.

"Murray has the tools to win Wimbledon, he just needs to change his mind-set and deal better with the psychological aspects of the game," Rusedski told the Guardian. "Looking at Tim Henman and I, yes Tim had four fantastic runs to the semi-finals and I had one quarter-final but at the end of the day we weren't good enough. We never had the talent he possesses.

"My advice for him is: don't listen to what the media is saying about you, don't read the newspapers and don't turn on the TV - well, except maybe to watch the football. It's vital to shut yourself off from the hype and criticism.

"You have to put yourself in a bubble during these two weeks because everybody wants a piece of you. That's where Murray has to get a little bit selfish if he's to win a major."

Rusedski, who reached one grand slam final during his career, fears Murray has not been helped by the draw this year - which could see him play a succession of physically-imposing players on the way to the latter stages.

"Ivo Karlovic is about the only non-seeded player everyone would have wanted to avoid, so Murray can consider himself unlucky that he could meet the big-serving, 6ft 10in Croatian in the second round," he noted. "With the 6ft 8in Kevin Anderson, 6ft 6in Marin Cilic and 6ft 6in Juan Martín del Potro also looming large, his quarter of the draw is by far the toughest.

"[Novak] Djokovic and [Roger] Federer will be far happier with their sections, as will [Rafael] Nadal, to a certain extent."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.