Novak Djokovic said his Australian Open final opponent Andy Murray is weighed down by the media pressure of being a British player and the history that accompanies it.

The Serbian world number three is favourite to win his second Grand Slam title while Murray is bidding to become the first British man in 75 years to land a Slam title in today’s final.

Fred Perry was the last British man to win a Grand Slam at the 1936 US Open and was also the last to win an Australian Open, in 1934.

Fifth seed Murray is being shadowed by a large British press contingent while Djokovic, in comparison, has only a handful of Serbian media tracking him in Melbourne.

“It’s been a tough situation for him to face this pressure of media and being a British player,” Djoko-vic said.

“Everybody expects him to win Wimbledon and be the best player in the world because he’s coming from a country of great tennis history.”

Such was the intense interest when Murray played last year’s Australian final against Roger Federer, that four major British papers sent their chief sports writers across the globe just for the decider, joining a record number of British journalists covering the event.

Djokovic, who has known Murray since their junior playing days around Europe, said he once coveted the support that the Scot regularly receives.

“On one hand I would like to be in his shoes because he gets a big support obviously because of the country that he comes from,” he said.

“On the other hand I wouldn’t like it because of the media attention and pressure that he faces.”

Djokovic, who led his country to their first Davis Cup triumph in Belgrade last month, said he feels relieved not to experience the same media scrutiny as Murray.

“I feel better just because of that situation. Actually I’m speaking English more often than I talk Serbian,” he said.

“Strange, but it’s hard for me to answer questions in Serbian sometimes.”