It may not be a case of now or never for Andy Murray at the US Open, but the Scot knows that another failure to win a maiden Grand Slam title in New York will seriously damage his reputation.
At 23, Murray has played in two Grand Slam finals – at the 2008 US Open and this year in Australia – and on each occasion he was trounced by Roger Federer.
The first defeat was seen as perfectly normal and a valuable learning experience for him, but the straight sets loss in Melbourne, when he was playing the best tennis of his life, was a heartbreaker.
Despite a run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July, it has taken Murray seven months and the firing of his coach to work his way back to where once again he is being seen as the main threat in New York to Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Proof of this came earlier this month in Toronto where he notched up straight sets wins over both Nadal and Federer en route to the 15th title of his career.
One former close associate who believes Murray’s time has come is Brad Gilbert.
The outspoken American was the Scot’s coach from 18 months until November, 2007 when they decided to go different ways after a series of disagreements.
Gilbert says that Murray is finally playing the kind of aggressive tennis to end Britain’s 74-year wait for a men’s singles Grand Slam champion.
“When I started coaching him almost five years ago he had this five-year plan that his game was going to blossom,” he said.
“He felt it was going to happen at the Australian Open. Everything was lined up and I think he had a hangover from that for about four or five months.
“I think now finally that he’s changed his game. He’s finally over that and at 23 years old he is coming into his own and now it’s just a matter of getting to the finish line but he really believes he can do it.”
The fast hardcourts at Flushing Meadows would seem to be the ideal surface for Murray to make his Grand Slam breakthrough.
It was there where he first signalled his potential by winning the 2004 junior US Open title and he has often said that of the four Grand Slam tournament surfaces New York was far and away his favourite.
Backing that up is retired US great Andre Agassi who played several times against Murray in the twilight years of his career and was able to assess his potential at first hand.
“Andy’s a multiple slam winner,” he said of Murray earlier this year.
“I think he’ll win more than just one and he’ll do it on at least a couple of surfaces.
“But I think where he’s going to be most likely to win first is the US Open.”