LEON Smith savoured pretty much every second of his Rio de Janeiro experience. The Scot, officially present for his second successive Olympics as a coach under Team GB tennis team leader Iain Bates, hit every ball as Andy Murray negotiated his way to a history-making second successive singles gold medal.

There was the way the world No 2 – handed the personal accolade of being Team GB flagbearer at the opening ceremony – fought his way back from unpromising positions against both Fabio Fognini and Stevie Johnson; and the masterclass he served up against Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals.

Perhaps, with one eye on the Davis Cup semi-final tie against Argentina in Glasgow, there was a mixture of awe and trepidation in the final as Murray and a resurgent Juan Martin del Potro produced one of the sport’s all-time classic slugging matches over four hours with the gold medal at stake.

But what impressed Smith most of all about his friend and former pupil was what happened immediately afterwards. Even as umpire Pascal Maria was declaring game, set and match to the 29-year-old from Dunblane in the final, a private jet was waiting on a Rio runway ready to whisk him and Rafa Nadal away to their next assignment in Cincinnati.

With every reason to rest on his laurels and recover his weary limbs after a gruelling period, Murray instead continued all the way to another Masters 1000 final, where Marin Cilic finally put a stop to his best 22-match winning run. If any confirmation was required, this just rammed home the point that the Scot’s determination and motivation to add further Grand Slam titles has yet to be sated.

His bid for a fourth major title will get under way against Lukas Rosol on Tuesday.

“At this time of year, there are always going to be signs of fatigue,” said Smith. “There has been so much tennis and preparation done over the last couple of months. There has been a huge amount of tennis played already, especially with Andy winning so much the last couple of months. What an incredible run. He is playing the best tennis of his career, his record is absolutely phenomenal.

“But what is maybe even more incredible, and shows his commitment to his sport, his dedication, his motivation, was to get on a flight in the early hours of the morning after that Rio final and go again.

“When you look at it, all the other sports shut down after that cycle. But for tennis, it is straight on to the next big event. So to make the final [in Cincinnati] is an amazing effort.

“Hopefully, he has had a couple of days in New York, just to take some time out, get some recovery, treatment, and spend time with family. Now, he goes in on a surface that he is great on, full of confidence. It all starts again.”

Often, the winner in Flushing Meadows boils down to the last man standing and this seems to be particularly apposite circa 2016, with many of the sport’s big guns suffering from signs of wear and tear. Novak Djokovic, world No 1 and still just about favourite with the bookmakers for the title, confessed last week that a “private issue” had affected his state of mind ahead of his shock defeat to Sam Querrey in the third round at Wimbledon, while the Serb has also been pictured undergoing what he called “electricity therapy” to his left wrist.

He faces Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz, a previous Wimbledon semi-finalist, in his first match.

Nadal pulled out of the French Open and Wimbledon with a similar affliction, even if there were signs of his resurgence in Rio. With Roger Federer holed up with a bad back until the New Year, the so-called Fab Four are starting to show their age.

Others, though, appear to be timing their runs just fine. Not least of these is Del Potro, who showed glimpses at the Olympics of the form which took him to the 2009 title in New York here at the Olympics. A re-run of that swashbuckling Rio final with the Scot seems likely on semi- final day.

Cilic, the No 7 seed now working under Murray’s former coach Jonas Bjorkman, may sense echoes of his win in 2014, when he took the title after the big guns all fell by the wayside. Nishikori, also in Murray’s path, deserves respect too, while a cavalcade of emerging talents like Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev will hope to make it big in New York.

“I wouldn’t look too much into who is favourite and who is second favourite,” said Smith. “Both Novak and Andy are playing great tennis – if you look at the year as a whole, they are the two most consistent players, the two best players on tour. But there is a whole bunch of other players who are dangerous.

“I don’t want to look too far ahead – you start the tournament again, go match by match and prepare the best you can, because upsets do happen. But what Novak and Andy are best at just now is finding their way through.”

A giant roof above the Arthur Ashe arena is fully operational for the first time this year, while Sky Sports have lost the coverage rights to Eurosport.

Murray is just one of four British men in the main draw, joined by Dan Evans, Kyle Edmund and Aljaz Bedene. Two of them face particularly tough opening outings, with Bedene facing Kyrgios and Edmund taking on Richard Gasquet, while Evans has a winnable tie against doubles expert Rajeev Ram.

Then, there are the doubles players to keep an eye on, led by last year’s runners-up Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, with Smith not too downhearted by the early end to the Murray brothers’ doubles bid in Rio.

Throw in a few junior players and a liberal sprinkling of Argentinian players who may be sighted on Davis Cup duty in Glasgow in September, and Smith has a busy fortnight ahead of him.