Wimbledon 2016: Andy Murray learns how to enjoy SW19 success at the second time of asking

The Scot was in good form despite 'brutal' post-match celebrations

Murray with the Gentlemen's Singles Trophy at Centre Court on Monday (Getty)

When Andy Murray said he wanted to enjoy his second Wimbledon title more than his first he was not kidding. The 29-year-old Scot hardly ever drinks alcohol but was nursing a serious hangover when he returned to the All England Club on Monday less than 18 hours after his victory over Milos Raonic in the final.

“It was brutal,” Murray said when asked whether he might have changed his opinion about the taste of alcohol after spending Sunday night out on the town. “I didn’t enjoy the taste that much.”

After attending the official Champions’ Dinner at the Guildhall in London, Murray and company headed for a nightclub, where the world No 2 set about contradicting the words of his autobiography, “Hitting Back”, in which he had written: “I hate the taste of alcohol. I absolutely hate it. I don’t even like champagne. I don’t like wine. I think beer is disgusting and I haven’t tried whisky.”

In the cold light of day back at the All England Club Murray said he could remember the whole evening, except that he could not recall exactly what he had been drinking. When was the last time he had drunk like that? “Never,” he replied. “Never in celebration, that’s for sure.”

Despite his sore head, Murray said the night had been “good fun” and would certainly provide a topic of conversation at the dinner he was planning to have with his entourage on Monday evening.

“Last time I won Wimbledon I said I didn’t enjoy it as much, so I just wanted to make sure I enjoyed last night,” he said. “It was nice. That was the thing. You get a good group of your friends, work colleagues, family around and you can relax. You feel a lot more comfortable in those surroundings. It was just a nice thing to do. I very rarely get the chance to do that.

“The nice thing about winning here is that everyone is around. For example Mark Bender, my physio, who comes to a lot of tournaments but wasn’t [working with me at Wimbledon] was able to join us. A bunch of my family were there too.”

He added: “Tonight will be a bit calmer. It will just be nice to be around the team. We’ll probably chat more about last night than the match, I would have thought. There were some amusing scenes.”

Hangovers may fade away, but Murray senses that it will be days and weeks before he fully recovers from his exertions of the last three months. He has been on the tennis treadmill almost non-stop since the start of the clay-court season three months ago. His run since reaching the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters in April has been remarkable: he has reached the final of all five tournaments he has played since then and won three of them.

“I could do with a few days off,” he said. “The last few months have been really long, the longest of my career. I have played more matches than I ever have done and I just need to take a few days off at some stage over the next few weeks.”

This summer’s schedule is busier than usual, with two Masters Series tournaments and the Olympics to be contested before the US Open, where Murray lost in the fourth round last summer.

“I maybe messed up a little bit last year before the US Open,” he said. “I played a little bit too much and by the time the US Open came around I was potentially a bit flat and a little bit fatigued. I don’t want that to be the case this time around.”

Murray said it was “unlikely” that he would play in Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final away to Serbia this weekend, especially as the tie will be played on clay, a surface which has contributed to his back problems in the past.

He has been discussing his participation with Leon Smith, Britain’s captain, who says he is willing to keep all options open until he has to make a final decision on his line-up the day before the quarter-final starts on Friday. With Dan Evans suffering with a shoulder problem, it is likely that Kyle Edmund and James Ward will be Britain’s two singles players.

“If it was on grass like we had at Queen’s last year [in the quarter-finals against France] then that’s a bit easier,” Murray said. “I did have a great clay-court season this year and my body has been much better on the clay, but I also need to respect that that is a surface that I have had real trouble with my back on in the past.

“Every time I come back on to clay I need to respect that. Even before the final last year in Belgium I spent a week training on clay before [the World Tour Finals] at the O2 to try and give my back time to adjust to it. The surface is really the main obstacle.”

Nevertheless, Murray may well fly out to Belgrade to support the team. “I do think we could win the Davis Cup again this year,” he said. “That would be an amazing achievement for everyone.

“I am part of the team and I feel a responsibility there to the team and to Leon. My brother is part of the team as well, which all adds to it. It’s difficult. On the other hand if there was another tournament this weekend, unless it was maybe a Slam or the Olympics, there’s no way I would play.”

Having secured his third Grand Slam title (all of them with Ivan Lendl as his coach), Murray said he definitely wanted to win more, but did not want to put a number on his goal. Asked if he thought he could emulate Andre Agassi, who won five Grand Slam titles after passing his 29th birthday, Murray said it was possible but stressed that Novak Djokovic was “still clearly No 1 in the world right now”.

Murray added: “Novak is not just going to go away just because he has had one bad tournament. You can’t forget what he has done in the last 18 months or so. It has been incredible. This has been a great tournament for me, but if I want to win a few Slams over the next few years I am going to have to get better. I know that he will come back strong from this because of the player he is.”

Djokovic – who has said he will not play for Serbia this weekend – still has a big lead at the top of the world rankings, but Murray has levelled the gap. Djokovic has 15,040 points, Murray 10,195 and third-placed Roger Federer 5,945.

Reaching No 1 in the rankings is now “definitely a goal” for Murray, who said that when he won his first Wimbledon title three years ago his only major motivation was to do well in the Grand Slam tournaments.

“Now I feel a lot more motivated throughout the whole year and at all of the events,” he said. “It’s something I spoke to my team about, something I chatted to Ivan about. I would love to get to No 1, for sure, and the way to do that is to show up every week and be focused on that event.”