Australian Open 2016: Andy Murray reveals he is 'not proud' of the way he has handled himself on court

The world No 2 will face Milos Raonic in the semi-finals at Melbourne Park

Andy Murray celebrates winning his quarter-final against David Ferrer (Getty Images)

Andy Murray can be his own harshest critic. The world No 2 is through to his sixth Australian Open semi-final despite all the off-court distractions he has had to contend with in recent days but admitted: “I’m not particularly proud of the way I’ve handled myself on the court. I don’t think that my behaviour on the court has been impeccable.”

Murray, who will face Milos Raonic on Friday after beating David Ferrer 6-3, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 in his quarter-final, believes he has been letting his emotions get the better of him on too many occasions.

“I’ve showed a lot of emotion on court and getting upset from the beginning of matches,” Murray said. “One thing I’ve done very well is fight for every single point and not given away games. Even when I’ve been broken, I’ve fought hard in the next game and made it very difficult for my opponents.

“Although I’m not exactly being very positive with myself, I’m still very difficult for my opponents and I’m fighting hard for every point. So that’s good. I’m more proud of how I’ve handled myself away from the court. I think I’ve probably dealt with everything away from the court better than I have on it.”

The way Murray has handled the dramas he has faced off-court has impressed those around him. As if being away from home for six weeks just before his wife is about to give birth to their first child has not been challenging enough, the Scot also had to cope with his father-in-law’s health issues after Nigel Sears collapsed during a match here on Saturday evening.

Amélie Mauresmo, Murray’s coach, said: “We know that right now it’s a little bit complicated for him, lots of things to deal with, so there are ups and downs. But I feel he’s pretty strong considering that he’s going through many different emotional states and yet he’s still beaten Ferrer after a huge fight. Right now, it’s a big performance. We’re all here. He knows he can count on us.”

Murray agreed that off-court events had made this tournament particularly tough. “I’ve never experienced [anything] like that whilst I’ve been in a competition,” he said. “Things have obviously happened, like with family at other stages, but not in the middle of a Grand Slam and with Kim obviously heavily pregnant as well. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. The last few days were difficult, for sure.”

Does he sometimes wonder during matches what might be happening at home? “No, that’s the one thing I’d say has been pretty good,” Murray said. “The match against [Bernard] Tomic, definitely of the four matches in the evenings, for sure.

“Yes, I do think what it would be like to be home just now. Each day that passes I’m closer to that, which is positive. And with each day that passes it’s also closer to the birth and I get more anxious about that as well, so hopefully everything’s all right in the next few days.”

Murray thought he had played his best tennis of the tournament so far in beating Ferrer. “I started hitting the ball better from the back of the court,” he said. “I felt like at the end of the match I was playing some good stuff, moving well.”

Friday’s match will be Murray’s fourth semi-final appearance in the last five Grand Slam tournaments. “You want to try to get to the latter stages to give yourself opportunities,” he said. “After a tough year in 2014, I think I’m now established again at the top of the game and giving myself chances.”

By reaching his 18th Grand Slam semi-final in total Murray has moved into joint 10th place alongside Boris Becker on the Open era list. This will be his sixth Australian Open semi-final, a tally bettered in modern times only by Roger Federer (12), Stefan Edberg (eight) and Ivan Lendl (seven).

Raonic, who beat Gaël Monfils 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the concluding quarter-final, won three of his first four meetings with Murray, but the Scot has won the last two, at the 2014 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and at last summer’s Madrid Masters. Murray also won their only previous meeting at Grand Slam level at the 2012 US Open.

The 25-year-old Canadian, who has a huge serve, has long been regarded as the best of the next generation of players but his progress stalled through 2015 because of a foot injury. The world No 14 made changes to his coaching team over the close season, replacing Ivan Ljubicic with Carlos Moya, and is unbeaten so far this year, having won the Brisbane International in the first week of the season.

“He’s is a big server and tries to play short points,” Murray said. “He was unfortunate last year with some injuries. He had a few physical issues. I played him in Madrid and he was struggling a little bit there. Then I think he had the surgery on his foot and missed the French Open. He’s obviously fit and healthy now and playing well.”

Murray welcomes anti-corruption review

Andy Murray was one of the first players to welcome the announcement of an independent review of the sport’s anti-corruption programme.

“That’s positive,” Murray said at the Australian Open. “In these situations I think people become sceptical when it’s kept in-house a little bit. Getting someone independent to look into it is positive for sure.”

The review, which will be led by Adam Lewis QC, a London-based expert on sports law, was announced by the sport’s governing bodies and the four Grand Slam tournaments in response to allegations of match-fixing and cover-ups in an investigation by the BBC and BuzzFeed News.