Murray not interested in second place
British No1 Andy Murray has vowed to settle for nothing less than the US Open title as he prepares to face Rafael Nadal in his first Grand Slam semi-final.
And there is reason to believe the Scot could pull off his greatest result yet when he meets the world No1 at Flushing Meadow tomorrow.
Murray refused to bask in the glory of a stirring four-set victory over inform Juan Martin Del Potro in the last eight, insisting that even losing finalists are quickly forgotten.
“I understand getting to the semis is a great achievement but I want to go a little bit further,” said Murray.
“I don’t want to lose in the semi-finals. When I watched the first night session and saw all the winners of the US Open, I realised that winning is what really, really counts. I want to win.” At first glance Murray appears to have little chance. He has lost all five previous meetings and has not taken a set off Nadal in the last four.
Nadal is enjoying the season of his life, having won six of his last seven tournaments, including the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics.
But there are grains of encouragement for Murray, who is also in the best form of his career
While Nadal does not favour the concrete – a US Open semi-final is a first for him too – Murray relishes the New York surface.
Head to head form may be against him, but Murray has already ended one formidable winning streak this week, when he halted Del Potro’s 23- match run of victories.
While the Argentine is a rising star, Nadal undoubtedly represents the pinnacle of the men’s game. But Murray has shown he is determined to scale new heights.