Murray Gets Fergie Tips

Sir Alex Ferguson gave Andy Murray some words of wisdom to carry with him through to a Wimbledon quarter-final clash with Grigor Dimitrov. The former Manchester United manager watched Murray beat Kevin Anderson 6-4 6-3 7-6 (8/6) from the Royal Box and the pair met for a quick chat afterwards. Murray met Ferguson for the first time at the US Open two years ago, with Ferguson joining Murray's support camp for his maiden grand slam triumph. Ferguson was also at Wimbledon last year when Murray fought back from two sets down to beat Fernando Verdasco, the British number one describing Ferguson's advice as "gold dust". He was unable to be at the final for Murray's historic triumph over Novak Djokovic, though, because he was on a cruise around the Scottish islands. After beating Anderson, Murray said: "I chatted to him for a few minutes after the match. Not for long, but just immediately when I came off the court. We stay in contact throughout the year. "We chat about a lot of things. We talked about my match, spoke about football, the World Cup a little bit. "Then he just said a few things, what he's observed when he's been watching me, not necessarily about technical or tactical things, but more mental things, how you respond to tough or tight situations. "Obviously you're going to listen to someone like him. He's witnessed a lot of big and tight sporting occasions. He obviously knows his stuff." Anderson provided Murray's stiffest test so far, the third seed having to save a set point in the third-set tie-break against the 6ft 8in South African. The defending champion still has not yet dropped a set but may do well to maintain that record on Wednesday against 11th seed Dimitrov, who succeeded Murray as Queen's Club champion and is having the best season of his career. Murray, meanwhile, would support the introduction of shot clocks as an aid for players to avoid slow play. Roger Federer brought up the issue last week after revealing he grew frustrated watching players who take excessive time between points. At grand slams players are supposed to receive a warning if they exceed 20 seconds, while on the ATP Tour it is 25 seconds. Murray said: "I think it's the only way to go, to be honest, because how are you supposed to know as a player how long 20 seconds is or 25 seconds? "When I'm playing, it's not something I'm ever thinking about, how long I'm taking between the points. Then sometimes if you're playing too slow, the umpire tells you at the change of ends. "When it's 4-4 in the fifth set of a match, you played a 30-shot rally, you're not counting in your head 20 seconds. You're thinking about tactics or what you're going to do on the next point. "When a player gets a warning, at that stage you can understand when they're frustrated because they don't know how long they've taken. If it's right there for everyone to see, then there's no arguing from the player's side."