ANDY Murray has no plans to get shirty with Tomas Berdych in today's Wimbledon semi-final, revealing that he felt so uncomfortable about his future wife Kim's tirade towards the Czech at the 2015 Australian Open that he sought him out to apologise.
The World No 2 takes on the 2010 SW19 runner up in the last four at the All England Club today, the pair's first meeting in the majors since a bad tempered semi-final at Melbourne Park in early 2015 which included Kim being captured calling the 30-year-old a "flash Czech f***".
While Kim made light of the matter by wearing a top with the Parental Advisory Explicit Content logo at the final, Murray revealed last night raked over an affair which saw him pitted against one of his boyhood pals Dani Vallverdu. The old friend from his Sanchez-Casal days had recently joined Berdych's camp, after splitting with Murray two months previously.
Read more: Nearly man Berdych braces himself for latest shot at Grand Slam glory
"It was a really uncomfortable period, that one," said Murray. "Dani was someone I had known since I was 15. He was one of my best friends and in the press and the build up to it, stuff was awkward. It adds a lot of tension to the situation. A Grand Slam semi-final is tense enough and when you throw that into the equation, it wasn’t great.
Read more: Andy Murray feeling benefit of Ivan Lendl's return ahead of Tomas Berdych clash
"Obviously I could have possibly handled myself better in the match," he added. "Tomas and myself had always got on well for the most time but the tension spilled over to my team and to my wife. That happens occasionally and I’ve seen it with other players over the years. So I spoke to Tomas the day afterwards and apologised. We’ve been great since."
While Vallverdu and Berdych are no longer together - splitting up in May after a 6-0, 6-0 defeat to David Goffin in Rome - the Venezuelan is not the only member of Team Murray to whom the Czech has made overtures. Berdych, via Vallverdu, asked his countryman Lendl to work with him during 2014, to be told that he "didn't have the time and he didn't want to be involved in tennis".
It is a compliment to the Scot that here he is, 18 months down the line, picking up where he left off. While Lendl and Vallverdu still talk regularly, he will not seek out any specific inside insights from Vallverdu, who is now working with Juan Martin del Potro.
"I think a number of guys have spoken to Ivan over the last couple of years and he obviously just didn’t fancy it," said the World No 2. "I don’t know what the reasons are and there’s many things that go into but Ivan is pretty open minded. He wouldn't have gone into it thinking ‘no chance’. [Grigor] Dimitrov as well, he did a few days training with him too. I will probably speak to him about it over the next few months but I’m not that interested.
"It’s maybe because we know how it went the last time," he added. "I don’t want to say its less of a risk but because it went so well last time now is just the time. Clearly he thought he could help and my game is going in the right direction. So that’s why I think he decided he wanted to do it again."
Murray reckons his chances of reaching his third Wimbledon final are greater now he has learned to stand up to bullies. While the World No 2 admitted to being physically intimidated by the 6ft 5in Czech player earlier in their careers, positioning himself on the baseline and deploying a more aggressive approach has seen him rack up wins on their last four meetings.
"When we played at the beginning of our careers he was much physically stronger than me," said Murray. "He is a big guy, strong and I maybe let him bully me a bit on the court. The last few times I have played against him I feel I’m much better against him physically to what I was even a few years ago. Since the back surgery I have been playing more offensive tennis with a lot of variety and making it harder for him to play his game."
Rather than the first all-Williams showpiece since 2009, the women's final at this year's Wimbledon will be a re-run of the Australian Open final. Although Serena Williams booked her place with a 6-2, 6-0 win against Elena Vesnina of Russia which was the quickest Wimbledon semi-final in recorded history, her sister Venus was outgunned 6-4, 6-4 by No 4 seed Angelique Kerber.
The German, whose game has soared since a pep talk from her countrywoman Steffi Graf, captured her first major title against Serena in January. The younger Williams sister needs one more major to move level with Graf on 22 Grand Slam wins.
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