Wimbledon 2015: Andy Murray loses the pain and gets set to win again at SW19

'I wasn't hating tennis, but when I stepped on the court it was causing me pain and I wasn't enjoying that,' says 2013 champion

Jonas Bjorkman and Amélie Mauresmo look on as Andy Murray practises serving at Wimbledon yesterday (AFP)

Whether or not he can win the title in a fortnight’s time is another matter, but as he prepares to begin his 10th Wimbledon campaign next week you sense that life has rarely been better in the world of Andrew Barron Murray. Happily married, having wed his long-time girlfriend Kim Sears in April, the 28-year-old Scot also has a contented coaching team around him, with the frictions that unsettled his entourage this time last year a distant memory.

On court the world No 3 appears to be rediscovering the form that took him to two Grand Slam titles. At Queen’s Club last weekend he won the Aegon Championships, the most important tournament in the build-up to Wimbledon. The last time he won it, two years ago, he went on to claim the biggest prize of all, ending Britain’s 77-year wait for a home-grown men’s singles champion at Wimbledon.

As Murray trained here on the practice courts at Aorangi Park, the grounds bathed in glorious sunshine as his coaches Amélie Mauresmo and Jonas Bjorkman put him through his paces, the thought might have run through the Scot’s head: it cannot get much better than this.

Murray’s happy and contented demeanour in recent months has spoken volumes for his state of mind, though one of the biggest reasons for his happiness is something that the outside world cannot see. Even in his finest hours on the tennis court – and especially in the hours afterwards – Murray used to have to deal with the pain from a long-term back problem that was resolved only after he opted for surgery at the end of 2013.

Until his operation Murray usually rode the punches when people suggested that he might be exaggerating his back problems (Virginia Wade once called him “a drama queen”), but very occasionally he came back off the ropes. Having had eight painkilling injections in his back before the 2012 French Open, the Scot bridled in the week before Wimbledon when it was suggested that his issues might be as much mental as physical.

“If someone is going to say to me that my back injury is not genuine, they can come see my reports from the doctors, they can see the pictures of a needle about eight inches long in my back,” Murray snapped. “I’m not accepting it any more because it’s not fair.”

The back problem was still troubling him when he won Wimbledon the following year – it had forced him to pull out of the French Open the previous month – and even last summer, nine months after surgery, he was still in some discomfort. It is therefore easy to imagine the joy Murray takes in his work today, free at last of the pain that never used to be far away.

“I found coming back from surgery hard,” Murray admitted this week at a promotional event organised by his kit manufacturers, Under Armour. “My back still hurt after the surgery. I thought at the time: ‘You have the surgery and when you start again you might struggle for a little while but then your body would feel OK.’ For me it wasn’t actually the case. My back still hurt – and I was worried about that as well.

“When I won Wimbledon, obviously it was great and that does make you happy. But a lot of the time I was playing I was in pain. So I wasn’t actually enjoying practising. I wasn’t hating tennis and I don’t know if resentful is the right word, but when I stepped on the court it was causing me pain – and I wasn’t actually enjoying that.

“Now I love practising, love going in the gym, love training hard. For a while when I was having problems with my back, I wasn’t enjoying it. Also I was just getting a better perspective on things: that tennis isn’t the only thing.

“You don’t have to win every single week, because if you go in with that mindset you’re never happy. If you expect to win every week, when you do win, well that’s what you expected. Whereas if you just lower the expectations a little bit it makes you enjoy the game a bit more.”

If Murray is more mellow these days, might that be down to the increasing female influences in his life? Mauresmo, his wife Kim and mother Judy will all be watching from the players’ box on Centre Court in the days to come. It must be a very different sight compared with the days when “Old Stoneface” himself, Ivan Lendl, was Murray’s coach.

Is Murray aware of a different vibe coming from his entourage now? “Not so much when I’m playing, but probably away from the court, for sure. Probably on my whole team as well.

“It’s different. It’s not that one is better than the other. But it’s a different atmosphere. Amélie and Ivan are very different personalities.

“Away from the court, I find it easier to open up and talk about how I feel about what’s going on than I did before. That’s why I feel happy about my tennis. I think if you hold on to your emotions, you don’t actually talk about them. Over time I don’t think that’s a good thing. It’s good to be able to talk about how you feel.”

Murray said he rarely talked tennis with Kim. “At times, like at the end of last year when I lost [to Federer] at the O2, she was more upset than I was. I spoke to her then and tried to explain to her what was going on. She’s obviously been around tennis a lot. But people who watched that match could go: ‘Oh my God, he’s so far away [from his game].’ And: ‘What the hell’s going on?’ But as a player, I knew kind of what was happening and I was actually more calm than anyone in my team. And when I was talking to people about what was happening, I felt like I knew.

“I was the one who was on the court that day. I remember that time I did [talk to Kim], because I felt that she was upset. I tried to explain to her and to make her feel better. But apart from that [we don’t talk about tennis].

“There are little bits and pieces, but when I go home today I certainly won’t be talking to her about the final at Queen’s or what’s going to happen at Wimbledon.”

Route to the final: Murray’s potential path to SW19 triumph

First round

Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan, world No 58, aged 27)

Reached third round last year and took first set off Rafael Nadal before losing in four sets. Murray has won both their previous meetings

Second round

Robin Haase (Netherlands, world No 73, aged 28)

Has lost all three Grand Slam meetings with Murray and let slip a two-set lead against him at US Open four years ago

Third round

Andreas Seppi (Italy, world No 27, aged 31)

Shocked Roger Federer at this year’s Australian Open and reached Halle grass-court final last weekend. Murray has won their past six meetings

Fourth round

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France, world No 12, aged 30)

Loves grass but has lost 10 of his 12 matches against Murray, including twice at Wimbledon. Semi-finalist at French Open earlier this month

Quarter-finals

David Ferrer (Spain, world No 7, aged 33)

Has beaten Murray in six of their 16 meetings but lost their 2012 Wimbledon quarter-final. Has won three titles already this year

Semi-finals

Roger Federer (Switzerland, world No 2, aged 33)

Beat Murray 6-0, 6-1 in their last meeting, at the O2 Arena. Won their 2012 Wimbledon final but lost when they met in subsequent Olympic final

Final

Novak Djokovic (Serbia, world No 1, aged 28)

Has beaten Murray in their last eight meetings, including four this year. Murray’s last win over him was in the 2013 Wimbledon final