He was Andy Murray�s first coach. If, that is, you exclude his mum Judy. So he must have known the question was coming. But he still answered it without hesitation.

He was Andy Murray's first coach. If, that is, you exclude his mum Judy. So he must have known the question was coming. But he still answered it without hesitation. Not only does Leon Smith expect his former pupil to make it beyond the challenge posed by Andy Roddick in this afternoon's Wimbledon semi-final, he also believes he can go on to beat either Roger Federer or Tommy Haas on Sunday to become the first British winner of the men's singles since Fred Perry back in 1936.

"Andy Roddick is playing well and he is obviously a threat on this surface but Andy's level has been consistent throughout the championships," said Smith, now the head coach of 18 and under boys at the LTA. "And Wednesday's quarter-final match was exactly what he needed. He really played well in all areas. From what he has done this week, and looking at the form of both of them, I think Andy will win.

"Clearly Federer is a different scenario to Roddick," Smith added. "And Andy is going to have to focus on getting past Roddick. He can't look past that match and he won't. But if he does get to the final, what a great occasion to play arguably the best ever tennis player in the final of Wimbledon."

For Smith, the key to this afternoon's match resides in the return. World No.6 Roddick blasted 43 aces in his epic quarter-final against Lleyton Hewitt, but Murray is arguably the best returner in the world on current form. And even the Murray of three years ago was good enough to beat the American in straight sets at SW19.

"Obviously both of them serve well," Smith said. "Roddick has been one of the best servers ever. But Andy is way more effective on returns and I think that could be the difference. He has got to be patient because obviously Roddick is going to have some games where he is going to serve some unreturnables. But Andy is going to be more likely to break serve."

Smith, a Glaswegian, coached Murray from the ages of 11 to 17, a period which included victory at the Orange Bowl event in Miami at under-12 level, and ended after a silly row in a men's futures event in Italy. It all means he is well qualified to comment on the common perception of Murray as a stroppy teenager.

"Any teenager is going to be a hard challenge especially when you get to the stage when he was 17 years of age and he was travelling 30 weeks a year," Smith said. "At that time there wasn't a lot of money so we weren't just travelling together, we were sharing a room together.

"I remember at one time in the grass-court season we were staying in a hotel for 40-50 nights in a row, and you are having breakfast, lunch and dinner. It would have been nice to have a bigger team. It was quite intense. When you are with each other for six years doing that it is pretty normal that you might fall out."

Murray has gone stratospheric since leaving Smith but the pair remain close friends, and the coach certainly takes a pride in the achievements of his countryman. They still speak regularly, the last time as recently as Wednesday.

Murray always had a solid base to work on. But not even Smith suspected he would come so far so soon. "From his early teens he was always winning major international competitions and he started to win some men's futures events at 16 which was a good indication that something pretty special was there," Smith said.

"There is no doubt he had a tennis talent and a tennis brain, but when he first burst on to the scene his body just wasn't coping with the demands of men's tennis.

"Some bits he has really improved on," Smith added. "The serve was something that he had to get a bit more aggressive on. His nature was to be very consistent and very solid. What he has done very well is keep that base game and introduce a more aggressive style. Where he used to use his serve to start the point he is now using it to finish the point."

Hype is building as the Scot closes in on Fred Perry's achievement 73 years ago, but Smith believes in his coaches and his family he has a "whole army of people" who can shield him from the strain.

Smith tries to foster a winning mentality in his youngsters, but it always helps when it is intrinsic. "With Andy we were very fortunate because he just didn't want to lose," he said.