“Am I good enough? Am I fit enough? Am I mentally strong enough? Lots and lots of questions over a period of time.

“[So winning the US Open] that was a huge moment for me,” he admitted. “And it was nice to finally be able to move on from that because it’s not particularly helpful, and also the players I was competing against, maybe at the time they were all great players but not how everyone is seeing them now.

“They’re pretty much being seen as the three best tennis players of all time, certainly on the men’s side. It wasn’t easy to win Slams in this era. I was aware of that. But I don’t think everyone else was.”

Before the 2012 US Open, the ‘Big Three’ of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had 17, 11 and five Major titles respectively, 33 altogether. The trio have since nearly doubled that shared tally to 63, with 20 for Federer, 22 for Nadal and 21 for Djokovic.

Murray did not have an easy time getting over the line in 2012. After going two sets to love up over Djokovic, the Serb clawed back the deficit to force a decider before Murray won in four hours and 54 minutes, the joint longest US Open final in history.

“I remember how I felt before the match,” Murray added. “I remember being in the locker room on my own and feeling unbelievably nervous and feeling pretty lonely and kind of feeling a lot of pressure.

“I remember after the match going back on to the court before I left the venue. I just wanted to be out there on my own.

“I was very proud of myself. I didn’t feel like going wild and celebrating and that sort of stuff. I just felt quite relaxed and it was just such a big relief to get over that line.”