Pat Cash backs Murray for Grand Slam titles

He said: "It's ridiculous. He's got plenty of good years and is improving all the time. He's had a great year this year.

"You learn all the time and he's got the ability to be able to pick it up. He's been able to step it up a grade all the time and now he's just got to do that another notch, and he can.

"For me, he's just got to be more aggressive. He's a fantastic athlete and he's got all the game, he just needs to find the one that suits him best. It often takes a while. Sometimes you retire before you quite find your game and the best play that suits your game.

"He'll win a grand slam, as long as he stays fit and he keeps improving, which I think he will. Fitness is a major thing. If you have a major injury it's always to the detriment of a tennis player. You've got to have the luck of the body. He's a strong fit guy so he should be alright, but you never know."

Murray is the man all Britain expects to end the long wait for a home-grown grand slam champion, the first since Fred Perry in the 1930s.

Cash, 44, believes the Scot can handle the weight of expectation, even if it all gets a bit too much when Wimbledon rolls around.

He said: "The Wimbledon pressure is quite ridiculous I must say. He handles it very well. He takes it with a grain of salt and realises it's all a bit silly. Unfortunately we all get sucked into it.

"Tim Henman had it before, but I'd never seen it like this year. I think everybody wanted Tim to win, he was a very popular player and a great player but people hoped he would win.

"But with Andy, they believe he'll win and there's a difference. They almost want a piece of that.

"If he won it would be a great party, but I don't know where he'd find somewhere big enough to hold it."

Australian Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion, was in Canary Wharf last Thursday helping to promote the Barclays-sponsored ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in November.

Murray aggravated his wrist injury in Britain's Davis Cup defeat against Poland but he should be fit for The O2, where the top eight players in the world will battle each other. Cash is excited about the showpiece.

He said: "It looks like it's going to be fantastic. It's the fifth Grand Slam in many ways, a big event at the end of the year. I think the players are pretty keen about it because they don't have to fly off to Houston or Shanghai where it's been held in the past.

"They are pretty excited they don't have to travel around the world. Last year China was just too far to go, so it's a great relief for them to be here. The atmosphere will be good."

Those players will include Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, as well as new US Open champion Juan Martin De Potro. For Cash the next few years promise to be some of the best tennis has seen for quite some time with the young pretenders pushing the old guard for the top titles.

He said: "It's been a one man show and then a two man show, and now it's a three or four man show with Murray and Del Potro. Hopefully Novak Djokovic can be a serious threat, although he doesn't look it at the moment. But he's still a very good player.

"I think in the next year we'll see guys like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils getting better. With Nadal back fit next year could be one of the best for 10 years."

Cash would not be drawn on who would win the prestigious end of season finale, but he thinks it will be thrilling week of tennis.

He said: "Anything can happen there and that's the exciting thing. Quite often you get players who are a bit tired, the top players, and then you get players like Djokovic or whoever, who really want to prove themselves and grab a big title at the end of the year.

"I really think it's pretty open. The other good thing is, if Murray or Roger has a bad match they are not out of the tournament because it's a round robin. It's a really good format.

"When I played it was a great feeling being among the top players in the world. You knew you were one of the top players but to be head-to-head straight off in a different format was pretty exciting."

Pat Cash is a Barclays ATP World Tour Finals ambassador. The event is taking place at The O2 between the November 22-29. For more information visit barclaysatpworldtourfinals.com.