Given Rafael Nadal’s success, confidence should not be an issue for him but Andy Murray knows he can make life uncomfortable for the world No2 when they meet in the semi-final of the Miami Masters tonight.
Nadal, the 10-time Grand Slam champion, leads their head-to-head record 13-5 but, crucially, those statistics drop to 6-5 for hard-court matches.
World No 4 Murray won their previous meeting on that surface in Tokyo last October and is optimistic of a repeat performance tonight. The Briton said: “Hard courts are the best surfaces to play him on. It will be challenging but on a hard court I can use my game to make him doubt himself a little bit.”
Nadal, bidding for his first Miami title, said: “It’s exciting playing someone like Andy who pushes you to the limit on everything.”
World No1 Novak Djokovic booked his place in tonight’s other semi-final by defeating Spain’s David Ferrer to win 6-2, 7-6.
Djokovic will face Juan Monaco after the Argentine beat American Mardy Fish 6-1, 6-3.
