Andy Murray has insisted that he will use the intense atmosphere to his advantage during tomorrow's quarter-final match against fan-favourite Nick Kyrgios.
The 19-year-old remains his country's last hope of lifting the Australian Open title on home soil having come through his meeting with Andreas Seppi yesterday morning.
A place in the final four is now up for grabs if he can overcome Murray in what is one of the picks of the tournament to date, although the British number one believes that he can put his experience to good use.
"I enjoy playing in that big match atmosphere so if I can conserve my energy and not worry about what everyone else is saying, when I get on the court then I can use the atmosphere to my advantage," he told The Age.
"Whereas, if you get distracted by everything else that's going on around you then you think about the match more, I feel like you burn more energy and you feel nervous for longer. So I prefer to just stay away from it all. I don't Nick know particularly well – I haven't spent much time with him.
"But I do know that he enjoys playing on the big courts and that's a huge part of going on to play at the top of the game. A lot of people can do it in practice but they can't quite bring that to the match court. Nick might be a very bad practice player – I have no idea – but when it comes to playing the big matches, he enjoys it. That's a very important thing to have if you want to be a top athlete in any sport."
Murray has reached the final of the Australian Open on three previous occasions, although he has yet to lift this particular Grand Slam trophy.
Daniel Lewis
