Andy Murray is grateful to have Ivan Lendl by his side as he prepares to open his defence of a grand slam title for the first time.
He has been kept waiting at the US Open, but will finally begin his campaign today when he takes on Frenchman Michael Llodra.
Lendl also won his first grand slam in his fifth final, and the 26-year-old has made no secret of how big a help it has been having someone to talk to who has been through the same thing.
Lendl went on to win eight grand slams, successfully defending titles in Australia, France and twice in New York.
Murray expects to be nervous before facing Llodra, who he has beaten in their three previous matches, but thinks he will feel less pressure rather than more as the tournament goes on.
Now he has won grand slam titles, including Wimbledon, the weight of expectation has been lifted.
An obvious next target for Murray would be to become world No 1, but he has not shown the consistency in tournaments outside the slams to accumulate enough points.
The world No 3 believes grand slam titles will always be his priority, saying: “Everyone is motivated by different things.
“My whole career for four, five, six years, it was about winning grand slams. That was what gave me the motivation to train.
“When I did lose in a grand slam, that was what was most disappointing for me. I could win a Masters series event and the first question I would get asked was, ‘When are you going to win a grand slam?’
“It wasn’t, ‘When are you going to get to number one?’”
He said winning the Australian Open title as a major goal as well as reaching the final of the French Open. Murray has made the final in Melbourne three times, but lost each one once to Roger Federer and twice to Novak Djokovic.
Murray said: “The Australian Open would be a big goal because I’ve been to the final there three times, and a semi-final with Novak on top of that.
“I’d love to try and win there, and obviously the French Open, trying to reach the final there as well would be another goal. To play in all four slam finals, I would be able to say, having played in the Olympic final as well, that I’ve at least given myself an opportunity to compete for all the major trophies in my career.”