• Wimbledon

McEnroe tells Murray to get angry

Andy Murray talked with John McEnroe and Rory McIlroy on Tuesday at Wimbledon © Getty Images

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John McEnroe believes Andy Murray needs to engineer a rivalry with the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer if he is to reach the level required to win Wimbledon.

The American worries that players in the modern era are too friendly, and believes the Scot would benefit from distancing himself from the other stars of the game - believing he would improve at a quicker rate if there was animosity between him and those he is competing with for grand slam titles.

"Murray needs to get to them," McEnroe said. "He's got to find a way to get under their skin. It should be part of his game, instead of saying 'We are great friends and everything is wonderful'.

"When I played Jimmy Connors, clearly we didn't take a liking to each other and that spurred us on to higher levels in those matches."

Murray, who faces Feliciano Lopez in the quarter-finals at the All England Club on Wednesday and could then take on Nadal in the semi-finals, acknowledges that perhaps he is too friendly with some of his rivals, but believes the overall spirit of friendship has actually been good for the sport as a whole.

"I know John McEnroe thinks we need a little more animosity between the top players and it's probably true," Murray said. "I think everyone would enjoy it a little more if the players were a bit more vocal about any dislike we might have for each other.

"But at the same time tennis is in a really good place right now.

"I've seen Rafa around pretty much every day, because most of the guys will practise around the same time on their day off, normally around midday.

"But I'm sure the days you play against them, you definitely don't say as much. I've been up there with the other guys for a good three, four years now - I've been up there with them and won against them quite a lot of times.

"I'd like to get the chance to win against them in one of these competitions. That would definitely help me."

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