Why Murray is made for New York

ANOTHER GRAND slam completed; another big step taken on the road to the top. Andy Murray's 11th grand slam may have ended in defeat to Rafael Nadal – he is not the first player to suffer that fate – but he had reached his first grand slam quarter-final. Onwards and upwards on the learning curve.

There is one grand slam event left on the calendar, one more chance for Murray to put his new-found experience to the test. In seven weeks the US Open will begin, the tournament that Murray regards as his best chance of winning a major title. The surface suits his game better than any other while the atmosphere and environment suits his temperament (and no-one can hear his cuss words over the din of trains, fans on mobile phones and the burger stands announcing their daily specials).

This year's US Open, though, will be like no other. In those seven short weeks, players will have to squeeze in three regular hard-court tournaments, two Masters Series events and the small matter of the Beijing Olympics before they get to Flushing Meadows. The Olympic finals are one week before the start of the Open and with most players preferring to arrive in Manhattan a few days before play, it leaves precious little free time to travel, rest and recover.

Traipsing across 12 time zones to China is not the best preparation for the most gruelling slam of them all.

At its worst, New York in September is stiflingly hot and humid. The cement courts are unforgiving and will soon identify any weakness or tiredness. The crowd, too, can lift the local heroes and drive the rest to distraction with their chatter and jostling for position. It is not the place to be for those of a nervous or jet-lagged disposition.

At the Olympics, Murray will play both singles and doubles, partnering his brother, Jamie, as the boys from Dunblane fly the flag for Britain. The thought of standing shoulder to shoulder with Jamie fills him with immense pride, but the summer schedule is going to take some careful juggling. The Olympics will be a fabulous experience but the US Open is part of his regular job and he is eager to make the most of what he has learned in the past two weeks and apply it to another major tournament.

"It's tough this year because of the way the schedule has been moved," he said. "After Wimbledon we are going out to the States and then coming back to China and then going back out to the States again. I've never really experienced it before because normally I'm in the States the whole way through. You've got to make sure you get enough rest days in so you're not burned out before you get to the US Open. It's going to be a tough stretch.

"For me, the Olympics is massive. It's not just about the tennis, it's being involved in such a great competition – very few athletes get to do it and if you are lucky, you get to do it maybe once in your career. To get the chance when I'm 21 is great and I'd love to do well there."

Doing well at the greatest sporting festival in the world has always been problematic. Roger Federer was a pale 19-year-old when he went to Sydney in 2000 and, overturning the form books at the time, reached the semi-finals. But when it came to the bronze medal play-off, he lost out to Arnaud Di Pasquale and was left inconsolable.

Four years later, he was the top seed

and the flag bearer for Switzerland in the opening ceremony but, again, the pressure got to him and he lost to Tomas Berdych in the second round. Again he was distraught. Apart from meeting Mirka Vavrinec, his girlfriend, in Sydney, the Olympics hold few fond memories for Federer. This time, he is desperate to claim the gold. He will be 31 come 2012 and Beijing is his best chance of success.

Novak Djokovic has a huge summer ahead of him. Chasing Rafael Nadal for the No.2 spot in the rankings and with a chance of overtaking Federer at the top by the end of the year, he also has a raft of points to defend between now and the end of September.

By the time Djokovic was clubbed into submission in the second round here by Marat Safin, he looked burnt out. After reaching the semi-finals in Roland Garros and the finals at Queen's, he seemed to have run out of puff. The same thing happened to him last year as, gathering ranking points around the globe, he ran into a brick wall by the end of the season. This year he has to repeat or better his achievements of last year, fit in another major tournament and deal with the pressure of being the hunted rather than the hunter.

As for Nadal, the past couple of years have followed a familiar pattern. Unstoppable on clay, a regular in the final on grass, he is exhausted by the start of the summer swing through America. The hard courts hurt his knees and aggravate the injury to his left foot and the furthest he has ever got in Flushing Meadows is the quarter-finals.

The "big three" are clearly streets ahead of the rest and have had stranglehold on the major championships for the past three years, but the US Open will be their biggest challenge yet. They may well triumph again, but they may also find that mind is willing but the body is weak.

Whoever proves best at juggling their schedule and managing their resources stands to profit. If Murray can learn that lesson and add it to his experience of the past two weeks, his learning curve may take another swift upturn.