The Briton goes into the first grand slam event of the year having
played just two competitive matches since the surgery in September
and said it would take him time to hit top form.
"Expectations are a bit different," Murray told reporters in
Melbourne. "Obviously I need to be pretty patient with myself and
not expect too much.
"But you never know. I've done a lot of training the last few
months; it's just I haven't played many matches.
"If somehow I can work my way into the tournament, feel a little bit
better every day, then I might start to raise those expectations.
"But for now they're not going to be obviously as high as they were
the last few years. I'll just concentrate on my first match."
Seeded fourth and drawn in the same half as top seed Rafa Nadal and
Swiss Roger Federer, Murray begins his campaign against Japan's Go
Soeda, ranked 112th in the world.
A kind draw in the first week gives the 26-year-old the chance to
ease himself into the tournament, which begins on Monday, and Murray
said it was possible he could click into gear fairly quickly.
"It can come almost from one day to the next sometimes, or one
tournament to the next," the 2012 U.S. Open champion said.
"How many matches do you need before you're feeling 100 percent
match fit, I don't know.
"But I played a few matches in Doha, singles and doubles and then
obviously I practiced a lot here.
[to top of second column] |
"We'll see, when the tournament starts. I'll have a better idea
what I'm like playing five-set matches because that's also
completely different to best-of-three, especially in the heat we're
going to be playing in."
Murray was the first of the current crop of top players to hire a
former legend of the game when he named Ivan Lendl as his coach two
years ago.
With German Boris Becker recently joining defending champion Novak
Djokovic and Swede Stefan Edberg becoming part of Federer's team,
Murray said it was good to see the former players back on the
circuit.
And Murray even caused a bit of laughter when describing what it is
like to have a new, once-famous coach.
"It's kind of like any relationship that you have," he said. "If
it's with a woman, I would try to impress my girlfriend a lot more
the first few months I was with her than I do now, I guess.
"It's the same with Ivan. The first few months when I was working
with him, you're kind of nervous going into practice sessions and
stuff.
"That's a good thing. It shows that you care and want to impress
him. But then over time, you get used to having him around. It's not
quite the same. But that happens in a lot of different
relationships."
(Editing by Patrick Johnston)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|