New York: Andy Murray is the toast of New York City, basking in the glory of his first Grand Slam title that ended Britain’s 76-year wait for a male singles champion on the biggest stage.
The Scotsman celebrated his stunning five-set win over world number two Novak Djokovic in the US Open final at a Manhattan restaurant late on Monday with family and friends, but there were no wild celebrations.
Although Murray struggled to get a wink of sleep while he contemplated his achievement, the 25-year-old was tucked up in bed before 3am in preparation for his first day as a member of the Grand Slam winner’s club.
“We had a nice dinner,” he told NBC’s Today show. “A few of them went out to a club afterwards, but I was back in my hotel room by 2.45 and couldn’t get myself to sleep.”
During a whirlwind tour of America’s morning television talk shows, he revealed that he did not even celebrate his win with a glass of champagne, sticking only to soda.
“I had to get up early this morning to do all this stuff,” he explained.
Clutching the US Open trophy, he then headed to Central Park, meeting up with his mother Judy and girlfriend Kim Sears and a chunk of the world’s media, for a photoshoot.
Then it was off to the British Consulate for a reception in his honour, where he was welcomed by a Scottish piper.
After losing his first four Grand Slam finals, Murray was still coming to grips with his breakthrough but was already looking ahead.
He will take a short break before heading to Asia in October, then return to Europe before the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Murray will be one of the favourites to win the Australian Open after reaching the final in Melbourne in each of the past two years and also has his sights set on reaching the top of the world rankings.
He is currently ranked third although he did climb as high as number two in 2009.
“All players, once you get near to the top of the game, one of the goals is to try and get to the world number one,” he said.
“I can’t say this year it’s necessarily possible for me to do it because I didn’t have a particularly good claycourt season and I didn’t do well in the Masters Series in Cincinnati and Montreal and also in Indian Wells.
“But that is the next step. To do that, you need to be consistent throughout the whole year. It’s something I’d love to do, to get to number one, but it’s a very tough thing to do.”