Andy Murray: King of New York

Andy Murray is in heaven. Forget the fact that today, weather permitting, he will play his first Grand Slam semi-final, against Rafael Nadal here at the US Open. The Scot is in his favourite city, has breakfast every morning at Starbucks and can spend his spare afternoons shopping with his girlfriend or playing mini-Olympics with his coaching team at the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex on the waterfront. Best of all, a new season of the American comedy series Entourage, his favourite television programme, opens tomorrow night. Indeed if the weather forecast proves correct – a tropical storm was due to hit the city overnight and drench it for the next 24 hours – he could spend most of the weekend watching American TV.

Murray was brought up to love Wimbledon and cherishes his annual visit to the All England Club, but this is the tournament he looks forward to more than any other. If Wimbledon and Tim Henman, the hero of Middle England and Murray's predecessor as Britain's flag-bearer, went together like strawberries and cream, the 21-year-old Scot and New York complement each other like hamburgers and fries.

From the moment Murray made his debut at the US Open juniors, which he won four years ago, he fell in love with the city, the people and the tournament. The fast courts at Flushing Meadows suit his style and he relishes the razzmatazz and the general hubbub that surround the event. Spectators come and go during games, the stands are never silent and the fans roar their approval or displeasure.

"I've just always loved being in America," Murray said. "I think the people here are very upbeat. They've always have been really helpful. I love the courts and the atmosphere is just a bit different to all the other Slams. I enjoyed playing here as a junior. It was the first time I stayed in a five-star hotel and I really enjoyed the way I got treated. It's been my favourite tournament.

"Regardless of how I've been playing beforehand, I feel good every time I come on these courts. I played great when I was a junior here and I've had some good results here in the past. I've always felt comfortable playing here.

"It's very different to Wimbledon. For me the biggest difference is in the middle of the points. At Wimbledon it's so quiet, and then at the end of the points it erupts. Here there's a lot of noise going on in the middle of points, and a lot of shouting out during them."

In the 23,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium, the world's biggest tennis arena, music blares out at changeovers and the fans dance in the aisles in the hope of being picked out by television cameras. Heaven help you if you get on the wrong side of them, as Novak Djokovic will discover when he faces Roger Federer in today's other semi-final after his barbed comments about Andy Roddick on Thursday night, but if they like you they love you. And the Americans love Murray.

Off the court the Scot is polite, reserved and often quiet. He has a dry sense of humour and can be an engaging personality amongst friends or with people he knows and trusts, but he sometimes looks uncomfortable in the company of strangers. At the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, where he trains between tournaments, he tends to mix only with his coaches and closest friends.

It is on the court where the world No 6 – soon to become world No 4 – comes alive. The Wimbledon crowd, accustomed to Henman's stiff upper lip, have not quite known what to make of a Briton who berates himself when he makes a mistake and bellows in celebration when he hits an important winner, though Murray was winning them over at this year's championships through the brilliance of his play and the gutsiness of his back-from-the-dead comeback against Richard Gasquet.

The New York public, however, have no reservations. It would be different, no doubt, if Murray were playing an American, but in every other situation the fans are on his side. "He's hugely popular out here," John Lloyd, Britain's Davis Cup captain, said. "He's very different to the sort of British player that the Americans have been used to seeing over the years. They like someone who throws it all out on the court. Andy likes to do that. I think he went quite a long way towards winning over the British public with the Gasquet match at Wimbledon. I'm sure he will get everybody on his side eventually."

In an age of conveyor-belt baseline ball-crunchers, Murray believes the New York crowd appreciate his inventive approach. "I think they enjoy my game style," he said. "It's a bit different to how a lot of the guys play nowadays. I think they enjoy the way I play and show emotion on the court. That's what Americans like to see."

Jamie Murray, Andy's older brother, has seen how the fans can inspire him. "This is his atmosphere," he said. "The crowd get into it and are quite loud. They get fired up and like people who show their emotions out there, which he obviously does. I think he showed when he got on Arthur Ashe for the first time how much he enjoyed playing out there."

Away from Flushing Meadows, Murray enjoys the relative anonymity of a British player in an American city. Does he get recognised much in the street? "Not particularly. If I go to Times Square and places like that I do. There are more foreigners there. Normally, it comes as a surprise to the person and I hear someone shout: 'That's Andy Murray!' It's a bit embarrassing. I just keep walking."

* The Federer-Djokovic semi-final is scheduled to start at 11am today followed by Nadal-Murray, though the matches might be played simultaneously on different courts depending on the weather.

How to beat Nadal

Rafael Nadal has lost only two of his last 56 matches, but John Lloyd believes the world No 1 can be beaten by Andy Murray today.

"Andy has a great chance," Britain's Davis Cup captain, said. "Nadal's played well on occasions over the last fortnight, but there have been other times when he's been quite a way below his best. With the year he's had you feel that at some stage his legs are going to get fatigued. Andy is one of the few players out there who can stretch you and force you to play shots you don't want to hit. He won't get that many easy rallies against Andy."

Lloyd agrees with Murray that he needs to return serve better than in previous matches against the Spaniard. "The return of serve is one of the big things against Nadal," Lloyd said. "He doesn't have as big a serve as some of the other players, but you have to try to make sure that you don't put your return into a place where he's able to take over the rally.

"Nadal takes control of rallies better than anybody else in the game. I think it's particularly important that Andy tries to jump on his second serve and put him in positions where he doesn't want to go."

Lloyd liked the way Murray took the game to Nadal in their closest match, in Australia last year. "Andy was more aggressive than he normally is and that proved very successful for periods in the match. Whether he'll do that again this time I'm not sure. Maybe he'll be a bit more patient."

If the match becomes a marathon, Lloyd believes Murray will cope just as well as Nadal. "Apart from the fact that he's through to the semi-finals the most pleasing thing for me about the whole of the last two weeks is that Andy's fitter than most of the other players. He's just outlasting them. He did that against [Jurgen] Melzer and against [Juan Martin] Del Potro. He just broke their spirits by wearing them down."

Paul Newman