Andy Murray ready for fan split in Wimbledon clash with Roger Federer

Andy Murray says the atmosphere during Friday’s semi-final against Roger Federer at Wimbledon may not be as partisan as usual.

The world No 3 understands that seven-time singles champion Federer is universally popular and that the crowd at SW19 may be split on who they want to win.

The pair played each other twice at Wimbledon during the summer of 2012 when Federer won a four-set final under the roof in early July before Murray avenged that defeat to claim gold at the London Olympics a month later.

In their Grand Slam meeting, the spectators were evenly divided over their support, while in the Olympics the crowd were most definitely rooting for the Brit.

And looking ahead to their forthcoming semi-final, the 28-year-old said: "I hope I get good support on Friday. It's been the case throughout the whole event and every year that I have played here.

"Roger's extremely popular everywhere he goes, so it might not be as partisan a crowd or atmosphere as some matches that I play here.

"But it will still be an excellent atmosphere. I'll still get a boost from the crowd, I'm sure."

Murray also paid tribute to his next opponent’s longevity at the top of the sport.

The No 2 seed from Switzerland turns 34 next month but Murray believes he has a few more years left him yet.

"It could be another three, four years at the rate he's going just now," Murray said.

"But it depends on a lot of things, if he wants to continue or not. The reasons he's still at the top is he has a pretty efficient game style and he's quite loose on the court.

"It's very impressive that he's managed to stay at the top of the game for so long, considering how long he's been at the top and how many matches he's played.

"He's won over 1,000 matches and played over 1,200 matches. That's a lot of tennis."