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Murray: Confidence irrelevant without hard work

Andy Murray begins his US Open campaign against Alex Bogomolov Jr on Monday © Getty Images

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Andy Murray insists he has not rested on his laurels since enjoying the biggest win of his career at London 2012.

Coach Ivan Lendl believes the confidence gained from winning Olympic gold could be the boost Murray needs to win his first grand slam.

But Murray, who has played just three matches since then after picking up a knee niggle, underlined the importance of putting in the hard yards on the practice courts ahead of the US Open.

"A week in sport can be quite a long time," he said. "There has been a number of weeks since Wimbledon and a number of weeks since the Olympics as well. The one thing it has given me is a bit more confidence.

"But I needed to make sure that afterwards I worked hard. That's the most important thing. Whether you're confident or not confident, providing you work hard and you do all the right things in training, then you'll get a good result.

"That was the most important thing, to make sure I kept my feet on the ground and keep working hard and try to improve."

After pulling out of the Rogers Cup with a knee injury, Murray suffered a humbling defeat to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in Cincinnati last week. However, the British No. 1 insists lack of match practice is not the end of the world heading into the final major of the year.

"I do not think it's going to have much bearing at all," he said. "I have had enough practice. Going into Toronto and Cincinnati, I had no practice on the hard courts. After Toronto I had to take a few days off as well. In some ways it was good.

"I've played some of my best tennis in Australia when I have not gone in there really playing that many competitive matches beforehand. So long as I have trained well and practised well, that's what gives me the most confidence.

"I went into Wimbledon this year having lost in the first round of Queen's. That was meant to be a horrible preparation, but Wimbledon worked out fine. So there's no reason why that can't happen here."

Murray kicks off his US Open campaign against Alex Bogomolov Jr on Monday, when he is scheduled to play second on Arthur Ashe Stadium after defending champion Sam Stosur's first-round clash against Petra Martic.

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