Wimbledon 2014: Andy Murray reveals Sir Alex Ferguson has been offering advice

The defending Wimbledon champion also took time to chat about the World Cup with the former Manchester United manager

Sir Alex Ferguson watches Andy Murray in action (GETTY IMAGES)

Andy Murray has attributed part of his success to the former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Wimbledon champion, who defeated South African Kevin Anderson in straight sets, made an unusually frank admission afterwards saying that he speaks to Sir Alex regularly.

“We chat about a lot of things,” he told reporters, adding Sir Alex “said a few things, what he's observed when he's been watching me, not necessarily about technical or tactical things, but more sort of mental things, how you respond to tough or tight situations.”

Sir Alex, who sat in the Royal Box during today's match, will have watched Sunday night's World Cup action with interest, with new United boss Louis van Gaal's Holland side beating Mexico to reach the quarter-finals.

“We talked about my match today, spoke about football, World Cup a little bit,” Murray said.

Whatever words of wisdom were passed on they certainly haven’t hindered: Murray is now through to the last eight and widely tipped to win Wimbledon for the second year in a row.