After the party comes the hangover and, for Andy Murray, it’s been a long and painful recovery.
But the Great Scot is back, into his first grand slam final since ending Britain’s infamous 77-year wait for a gentlemen’s singles champion at Wimbledon in 2013.
And like the tumultuous journey to his maiden major, at the 2012 US Open, it has been quite the journey back.
If back surgery that sent Murray plummeting to as low as 12th in the world last year wasn’t testing enough, Murray had influential mentor Ivan Lendl walk away and his career-long coach and confidante Dani Vallverdu defect – very publicly – to another courtside box.
All this before Murray, the tour’s best-known mummy’s boy, endured the locker-room whispers and widespread questioning of his left-field but now seemingly inspired choice to appoint former women’s world No.1 Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach before Wimbledon last year.
Oh how the flak flew after the dual grand slam champion suffered a humiliating 6-0 6-1 defeat to Roger Federer at the World Tour Finals in November – and all before home fans in London.
“Clearly the way things ended last year at the O2 (Arena) wasn’t the best, but maybe there were reasons for that,” Murray said.
Whether or not his resilience is some way borne from his survival of the 1996 Dunblane massacre – when as an eight-year-old Murray hid from a crazed gunman as a primary school class room – there is no denying his courage and fighting spirit.
On Sunday night, the 27-year-old will strive to become the first man to win the Australian Open after suffering three finals defeats at Melbourne Park.
Typically, rather than view losses to Federer in 2010 and Novak Djokovic in 2011 and 2013 as nagging setbacks, Murray considers his trophy cabinet half full.
“To be in the final four times here, I mean, because I’m surrounded by guys like Roger, Novak and Rafa (Nadal), doesn’t look like much, but that doesn’t happen that often. So I’m very proud of that,” he said.
“Obviously losing in the finals is disappointing, but making four finals is a very, very difficult thing to do.
“It’s not easy to do and, yeah, I’m proud of my record here. I’ll try my best on Sunday.
“I’ll go in with best tactics possible, prepare well, (enjoy a) couple days’ rest, recover as best as I can.
“All I can do is give my best. If it’s enough, great.
“If not, I literally couldn’t have done anything more to put myself in a better position come Sunday.”
Defying the doubters, Murray credits Mauresmo, the 2006 Australian Open champion, for her part in helping him reach such a position.
“I enjoy working with Amelie. She’s fantastic,” he said.
“A lot of people criticised me working with her and I think so far this week we’ve showed women can be very good coaches as well.
“Madison Keys, who reached the semis here and had her best tournament, is also coached by a woman in Lindsay Davenport and I see no reason why that can’t keep moving forward like that in the future.
“So I’m very thankful to Amelie for doing it. It was, I would say, a brave choice for her to do it and hopefully I can repay her in a few days.”
Annoyed at the focus on Vallverdu forging an allegiance with Tomas Berdych, his Czech rival who Murray gleefully took out in a tense and niggly four-set semi-final on Thursday night, the Scot says Mauresmo deserves more.
“I got asked all the time about my ex-coach working with Tomas and no one was interested in anything I was doing with Amelie or the way I was playing or anything,” Murray said.
“A lot of people were also criticising her at the end of last year, like the way I was playing was her fault when I’d spent two weeks (fitness) training with her.
“You can’t change things during tournaments. There was very little time to spend with each other.
“There’s no reason for her to be criticised for anything.”
Just applauded, says Murray, who on Sunday night has the chance to not only complete his long journey back but also strike a mighty blow for women’s tennis.
