WITH all that has been going on around him this past fortnight, Andy Murray’s achievement in reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open might just be one of his best yet.

Not only have his bags been half-packed, just in case he gets the call from home that his wife, Kim, has gone into labour, but the health scare involving his father-in-law, Nigel Sears, had him wondering if he might have to leave even earlier.

Concentrating on the task at hand has been far from easy, but Murray is through to his sixth Australian Open semi-final in seven years and he will go into tomorrow’s showdown with Canada’s Milos Raonic as favourite to reach yet another final.

“I'm not particularly proud of the way I've handled myself on the court,” Murray said yesterday after a gutsy 6-3, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over the ever-dogged Spaniard David Ferrer.

“I don’t think that my behaviour on the court has been impeccable. I've showed a lot of emotion on court and been getting upset from the beginning of matches.

“One thing I've done very well is fight for every single point, I’ve not given away games and stuff. Even when I've been broken, I've fought hard in the next games and made it very difficult for my opponents.

“Although I'm not exactly being very positive to myself, I'm still very difficult for my opponents and fighting hard for every point. So that's good.

“I'm more proud of how I've handled myself away from the court. I think I've dealt with everything away from the court better than I have on it, probably.”

Murray admitted that he had never experienced a crazier week than this one, while also wondering how his wife, who is due to have their first child early next month, is coping with it all.

“I've never experienced anything like that whilst I've been in a competition,” he said. “Things have obviously happened, like, with family at other stages, but not in the middle of a grand slam and with Kim obviously heavily pregnant, as well.

“I've never experienced anything like it before. The last few days were difficult, for sure.”

Many have pointed out to Murray how calm he has been during Davis Cup weeks, totally focused, by contrast with many weeks on Tour, when his player box has felt the full force of his ire.

Here, it is no surprise that Murray’s mind has not necessarily been calm but while he believes finding a Zen-like state is possible, he also pointed out that emotion, handled well, is not a bad thing.

“I think it is possible to do it in a grand slam and I think in certain situations I have shown it,” he said.

“For example, the Wimbledon final [2013, when he won the title] and the last game of that match, in terms of how I was, like, how it would have appeared to everyone else, I looked fairly calm on the outside – not necessarily how I felt on the inside.

“People also read into those things more... like, if someone shouts, then they think, oh, that means they're mentally weak or whatever, or getting really frustrated.

“But it's not always the case. There are a lot of players who get extremely frustrated on court and won't say a word and it's not always positive for them.

“People don't know. Commentators like to speculate what someone is thinking about at different stages on the court. They have no idea what each individual is thinking.”

Those around Mauresmo are sensitive to Murray’s plight, with coach Amelie Mauresmo saying yesterday that the team are all working to make life as easy as possible.

“We know that right now it's a little bit complicated for him, lots of things to deal with, so there are ups and downs,” she said.

“But I feel he's pretty strong considering that because he's going through many different emotional states and he still beats Ferrer after a huge fight. Right now, it's a big performance.

“We're all here, he knows he can count on us. We're trying to move forward.”

Murray admits there have been times on court when he has been wondering what is going on back in England and he is looking forward to getting home, hopefully, in time to be there for the birth of his first child.

“Yeah, I do think what it would be like to be home just now,” he said.

“Each day that passes I'm closer to that, which is positive. And with each day that passes, it's also closer to the birth as well, and I get more anxious about that, so hopefully everything's all right in the next few days.”

Murray will need to be fully focused to beat Raonic, who took care of Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last four here for the first time.

The world No.2 will also be ready but he was at pains to point out the performances of two other Scots here this week.

His brother Jamie Murray was due in semi-final action of the men’s doubles overnight while Gordon Reid produced a shock in the wheelchair event when he knocked out the world No.1 Shingo Kunieda of Japan to reach the semi-finals.

Reid was due to play Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez for a place in the final in the early hours of this morning.