ANDY MURRAY insists he has no problem playing under the Centre Court roof again after storming into the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time in his career.

By Hugh MacDonald

ANDY MURRAY insists he has no problem playing under the Centre Court roof again after storming into the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time in his career.

Murray raced to a 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 quarter-final victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero in just an hour and 43 minutes.

But with rain forecast for tomorrow's semi-final against Andy Roddick, Murray could play under the roof for the second time this week after having won his fourth-round tie against Stanislas Wawrinka under the £80million state-of-the-art ceiling on Monday night.

Murray said: "I think it was kind of made out I was complaining about the roof after the Wawrinka match - I wasn't at all. I guess it was the first match ever to play under the roof and I was asked how the conditions were.

"I gave an honest and pretty fair assessment of how it played. It does play slower, which is not a complaint. It's more humid.

"It doesn't make a difference to how I'm going to approach the match, just that you have to alter your game style slightly because it's a slower court. But I don't mind if it's indoors or outdoors.

"The one thing that I think is important is that if you are going to play under the roof, that you know half an hour in advance. That's all that I would ask for, which I don't think is unreasonable."

Murray was also quick to defend those fans who were absent from Centre Court when his match with Ferrero began.

The Scot admitted that the sweltering conditions meant spectators needed a break after Roger Federer's victory against Ivo Karlovic.

Murray said: "It was roasting outside, so I'm not surprised after Federer's match people needed a break as we were out pretty quickly after that match finished.

"It's understandable that people would have gone inside to stay away from the heat. I wouldn't recommend anyone sitting in that heat for five hours in a row, so it didn't bother me."

Murray is just two wins away from finally ending Britain's 73-year wait for a successor to Fred Perry as Wimbledon men's singles champion.

But the Scot says he is unfazed by the hype surrounding his efforts to win the All England title.

Murray said: "If you ignore it you don't realise it's happening, you don't take anything that's being said about you. I just try and shut it out and focus on the next game. Andy Roddick in a semi-final at Wimbledon is a tough ask for anyone."

Roddick admitted his quarter-final with Lleyton Hewitt battle had been gruelling.

"It was tough because Lleyton wasn't going away and there were kind of a lot of ebbs and flows to the match," he explained. "I'm just happy to be on the good side of it."