Three years ago, Jamie Murray was considering quitting, fed up with the Tour and unable to find a partner. Last night, he became a Grand Slam doubles champion for the first time.

Murray and new partner Bruno Soares – in just their third tournament together – beat 12-times Grand Slam champion Daniel Nestor and the Czech Radek Stepanek, who owns two titles himself, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in a brilliant final.

It was the first Grand Slam doubles crown for both men and in the space of three months, Jamie Murray has achieved two things he probably never believed were possible.

First, he and brother Andy, who was there well after 1am to see Jamie collect the trophy, won the Davis Cup for Britain and now he has a Grand Slam doubles title to his name.

“This is my bread and butter,” said Jamie, asked to compare the feeling with that of winning the mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 2007. “For me, the Grand Slam men’s doubles, that is going to be the pinnacle of my career, other than Davis Cup obviously. This is what I’m working towards every day, every time I step on the court.

“It’s an amazing feeling to have realised that with Bruno. We played a great tournament. Did a lot of great things on the court together. Yeah, pretty speechless. Really, really happy with our work the last couple of weeks.”

It is nice to see Jamie happy and smiling, for it has not been the case at various stages of his career. Three years ago he was thinking of hanging up his rackets, unable to find a partner and languishing down near the 100 mark in the rankings.

A partnership with John Peers and the decision to work again with his former coach, the doubles guru, Louis Cayer, did the trick and Murray and Peers went close to a Grand Slam doubles title themselves, losing in the final at Wimbledon and the US Open last summer.

Sometimes a change is as good as a rest and Murray and Soares have joined forces to great effect, winning in Sydney the week before Melbourne and picking up the big one here in Melbourne.

Murray said Cayer was the reason he was able to perform on the big stage.

“I had Louis with me on and off, for about 10 years,” he said. “He’s the guy that made it happen for me to have success on the doubles court. He really believed that I could do great things. It took me a lot longer to realise it.”

Off the back of this win, Murray will climb to No 2 in the rankings and given that Novak Djokovic, whom Andy Murray plays in the singles final here today, is miles ahead at the top, Jamie could be the first brother to get to No 1.

“That’s amazing,” he said. “I never thought about that. I guess the race is on. Bring it on.”