Murray: winning doubles with my brother made me 'well up big time'

(AP)

Andy Murray usually reserves his tears for Grand Slam finals but the 23-year-old Scot admitted here yesterday that partnering his brother Jamie to victory in the doubles at the Valencia Open on Sunday had been one of the most emotional moments of his career.

"It was a big week for Jamie and obviously I wanted to do well for him," Murray said after arriving at the Palais des Omnisports in Paris for this week's Masters Series tournament, in which he will play his opening match tomorrow. "It's not just about singles and my tennis all the time. I love playing with Jamie and when I get the chance I have to take it.

"It is the first time I have won a tournament with him and it's the most emotional I've been after a match since the Australian Open. It was really important. I was welling up big time. There are more important things than just simple tennis matches and doing something great with my brother meant a lot to me. It's really, really special. I'm sure if you asked the Bryans or the Williams sisters they would agree that winning with someone in your family is very special."

For the last three weeks of the season Murray's focus will be back on his singles game. The event in Paris is the final qualifying tournament for the end-of-season ATP World Tour finals, which begin in London in 12 days' time.

Like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling, Murray has already secured his place in the elite eight-man field, which is decided by the world rankings. David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick currently occupy the other positions, though Fernando Verdasco, Mikhail Youzhny and Jürgen Melzer have outside chances of gatecrashing the party if they put in good performances here.

Once the season is over, Murray will step up his search for a coach following his split with Miles Maclagan in the summer. "I've got ideas of people that I would like to work with and people I know are available, but I haven't actually sat down and spoken to anybody in person yet or over the phone," Murray said.

"I work with Alex Corretja, which people seem to forget, so it's not like I'm not with a coach. There are people around me helping. I just have to decide what to do next year. If I like the way things are going and I feel like I'm improving, then I'm not scared of playing some tournaments on my own, but I need to make sure I'm improving."

He added: "There are a lot of things I need to improve. I've returned very well this year. My movement has been a little bit up and down. Some weeks I felt great moving on the court, some weeks not so good. Last week I played very well at the net in doubles and I served very well. It's a question of making sure I can package it all together."

Nadal is the most significant absentee this week after suffering tendonitis in his left shoulder. The injury has cost him at least $400,000 (about £247,000) as 20 per cent of his $2m end-of-year bonus as world No 1 is automatically deducted because he is not playing here.

"I'm going to do everything I can to play in London," the Spaniard said here, having chosen to come in person to Paris to apologise for having to pull out of the season's final Masters Series tournament.

* Britain's Heather Watson enjoyed the biggest victory of her career when she beat France's Alize Lim 6-3, 6-3 in the final of an International Tennis Federation tournament in Toronto. Italy retained the Fed Cup, beating the United States 3-1 in the final in San Diego.