Andy Murray cruised into the US Open second round in New York and insisted his Olympic disaster was well and truly behind him.
Scot speeds into round two at the US Open
Andy Murray says he has already put his Olympic disaster behind him after racing into the second round of the US Open.
The British number one, winner of the Cincinnati Masters in July, lost in the first round of the men's singles in Beijing to world number 77 Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan.
After seeing off Argentina's Sergio Roitman 6-3 6-4 6-0 on the opening day of the season's final grand slam at Flushing Meadows, Murray declared himself over that disappointment.
"I'm feeling really confident just now regardless of what happened in Beijing," said Murray, who is seeded sixth in New York.
"I feel I'm hitting the ball well. I feel mentally strong and physically I'm not tired so I want to do well here and today was a good start."
Jitters
Murray did admit to first-round jitters as he returned to competitive action for the first time since that Olympic defeat.
"I think before you get out on the court there is always maybe more nerves in the first round. Maybe by the second, third, fourth rounds, you get used to the court," he added.
"No one wants to go out in the first round but actually, once you get onto the court and you play sort of four, five, six games, you get more comfortable and you relax a little bit.
"I was lucky I got off to a good start and calmed down a little bit after that."
Approach
Murray revealed he had adopted a new approach to big tournaments and his work ethic away from the court was also paying dividends.
"I play for myself and I work really hard off the court to try and get the rewards in these tournaments," he insisted.
"In the past, I felt nervous coming into the bigger tournaments but now that I've started to work really hard off the court you go into the matches with sort of no excuses, no worries.
"You just go on the court and just to play tennis and that's one of the few things that I'm good at. It's worked out much better for me this year."
That change in approach, Murray felt, was evident at the beginning of the year in Qatar when he picked up his first title of the season in Doha.
"I spent about four or five weeks out in Florida training," he said.
"That means being away from your family for obviously that period of time when you could be at home training in really hot conditions and going in the gym a couple of times a day, it's a complete waste of time going on the court and finding reasons why you might lose the match and what have you.
"You just go out there and fight for every single point because that's a complete waste of time putting the work in if you're not going to use it out on the court.
"And it's really been the first time early this year when I felt really good going on the court physically and it's nice to sort of show that you're in great shape because I think it sends a message to the other players."
