Murray can be catalyst

Great Britain's Andy Murray is ecstatic after beating Spanish world number one Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the US Open at the Flushing Meadows on Sunday. Murray now has the chance to become the first British man in the Open era to win a Grand Slam if he can overcome Roger Federer in the final today.Photo: AFP

US Open finalist Andy Murray hopes he can do for British tennis what an Ashes victory did for English cricket and a World Cup title did for England rugby - lift the sport to a higher level.
Murray gave himself a chance to become Britain's first Grand Slam men's singles champion in the 40-year Open era by defeating world number one Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-4 on Sunday in the US Open semi-finals.
To be sure, his challenge is mighty. The 21-year-old Scotsman faces 12-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, the Swiss superstar who seeks his fifth US Open crown in a row, in Monday's rain-postponed final at Flushing Meadows.
But Murray has won two of three prior meetings with Federer and remains calm and confident that his workout regimen will pay off with magical match results.
"In the past I maybe did think about pressure because I hadn't worked maybe as hard as I should have," Murray said. "But now that's not the case."
Murray will jump to fourth in the new ATP rankings, matching Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman for the highest mark in British history, and has joined Rusedski and John Lloyd as Britain's only men's Slam finalists in the Open era.
That gives him a unique chance to follow in the footsteps of England's 2005 Ashes cricket victory over Australia, the first since 1987, and England's 2003 Rugby World Cup finals extra-time triumph over the Aussies.
"When you have a team or someone who wins the big events, it makes a big difference to the popularity of a sport in your country," Murray said.
"With rugby back home, when England won the World Cup, rugby became a huge sport pretty much overnight.
"Cricket, when England won the Ashes, that went from being a smaller sport to having a lot of cricketers become celebrities after that. It was sort of a much cooler sport."
While Murray's prime drive to win a Slam title comes from within and the support of family and friends, there is a sense that he could boost tennis in Britain in a way no predecessor has done.
"If the popularity of tennis grows because of me, then that's great," Murray said. "I've always tried to do bits and pieces for British tennis when I'm back home.
"I think no matter what you do, how many little things you do, when you do something big like this, I think that's when the big difference happens."