Agassi says Murray will end British drought

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) - Former Wimbledon winner Andre Agassi is convinced it will not be too long before Andy Murray ends Britain's 73-year wait for a men's grand slam champion.

"I do think he's going to win multiple slams. His game has really impressed me tremendously," the American told reporters at Wimbledon on Saturday.

As the tennis season heads towards Wimbledon, Murray mania is already gathering pace and Agassi believes the Scot, who became the first Briton to climb to third in the ATP rankings this week, has the talent and the belief to succeed on the biggest stage in tennis.

"I don't think it is too early for him to win. I have seen him grow mentally over the last number of years. Last year he was a different player mentally than he is now," eight times grand slam champion Agassi said a day before playing in an exhibition event to unveil the new roof over Wimbledon's Centre Court.

"His U.S. Open final against (Roger) Federer was a wake-up call. He realises he expects to win now. His best surface to win on is New York and Australia (on hardcourt) but I would be surprised if he doesn't find a way to win here."

Before Murray emerged on the scene, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski had raised expectations of ending Britain's drought that has dragged on since Fred Perry won the last of his eight majors at the U.S. Open in 1936.

It turned out to be a false dawn since Henman never managed to get past the semi-finals of any of the four slams while Rusedski's hopes stalled with a solitary final appearance at the 1997 U.S. Open.

However, Murray is being thought of as the real deal since he has won three Masters titles over the past 10 months and reached a grand slam final.