PITY Andy Murray. He's in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon and all around him there are parties in full swing.

Pity Andy Murray.

While we don't begrudge that Britain expects every man to do his duty, in Murray's case it is win or it's off to the Tower.

Today, the 22-year-old has the weight of expectation pushing down on his young shoulders - and it's a heavy load to tote.

The Queen sent him a note. Would it have lifted his spirits? I doubt it.

If anything, he must now be experiencing the same cold sweat which Winston Churchill experienced during the blitz of London when everyone, including the King, looked to him for a morale-boosting victory.

James Bond, possibly on Her Majesty's Secret Service, cabled him. Okay, so it wasn't 007 himself but coming from Sir Sean Connery it must have been another one of those 'good luck laddie, do your country proud' kind of note.

All of it translated into more pressure.

If Bond really wanted to help, he could have sent Murray one of those 007 gizmos that can neutralise Roger Federer's court craft, nullify Andy Roddick's booming serve and nuke the sneer from Novak Djokovic's face.

Now, that would have been something.

Have you watched Murray in action? He carries this anguished look. Maybe that's his fighting face.

I don't know. But look closely and you'll see that the eyes are watery and mournful like a human basset hound.

Today, all across Britain, they're saying that Murray's bound for greatness. Luckily, greatness doesn't always come in attractive wrapping.

The British are not wrong. This guy's better than that last one - Timothy Henry Henman.

But they should let it come naturally - and it will, just like that knighthood which surely will follow should he deliver to the Queen the Wimbledon singles crown on a platter.

Flashback

Then again, we cannot blame the British. Whenever Murray sends a thunderous serve down the 'T', they get a flashback to 1963 when their Henry Cooper sent Cassius Clay to the canvas with a thunderbolt to the chin.

Cooper was always the working man's hero. But in the years gone by, the standard has fallen. They want Murray to pick it up.

He will. But for now though, the fight continues. He must get past Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero tonight. It won't be easy.

Oh, to be Dinara Safina. Trailing a set to Germany's Sabine Lisicki in the women's quarter-finals, she didn't have the crowd going berserk and calling for blood - as they would, had this been Murray.

The Russian Safina didn't find fault. She found a remedy and every so often it looked like the German with the golden ponytail was having a blonde moment. Eventually, after two hours and 24 minutes in the sun, Safina prevailed 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1. No fuss, no bother.

Oh, to be Venus Williams.

No pressure. No pot-boiling melodrama. She's been there, done that. If she does it again, well and good. If she doesn't, well, she's done enough.

Like yesterday, the American had Agnieszka Radwanska on the ropes 'from the bell' and she never let up.

The crowd cheered. But they weren't hysterical. They gave Venus all the space she needed as she went about the job of beating the girl from Poland 6-1, 6-2 in all of 68 minutes.

No one raised the stars and stripes and Venus will go into the semis - against Safina - without any 'weight' on her shoulders.

Oh, how Murray must envy her. If that had been him, they would have linked arms and sung 'God Save the Queen' in the stands and the Union Jacks would have been fluttering.

But that's the difference between the Americans and the British.

The American treat their sports heroes like matinee idols.

The British think they're deities.