HE walked into the media room to be greeted by a round of applause.

Andy Murray then took a seat behind a table. It was an unusual spot to talk about the "pinnacle of tennis" but the 26-year-old Scot was definite that this was highest point of his career, beating his breakthrough victory at the US Open last year. "Yeah, winning Wimbledon, yeah, I still can't believe that. Can't get my head around that," said the world No.2.

Looking drained, if predictably happy, after his three-hour struggle with Novak Djokovic, he recovered his composure to talk lucidly about how the victory was achieved and what he owed to Ivan Lendl, the coach who now has guided Murray to two grand-slam titles and an Olympic gold in his 18-month tenure. "He just said that he was proud of me, which obviously coming from him means a lot," said Murray of his post-match chat with his coach.

Lendl won eight grand slams, none at Wimbledon, and Murray said: "Obviously ideally he would have won it himself, but I think this was the next best thing for him."

He praised his coach's influence, saying: "He believed in me when a lot of people didn't. He stuck by me through some tough losses. He's been very patient with me. I'm just happy I managed to do it for him."

The Scot added: "He's made me learn more from the losses that I've had than maybe I did in the past. He's always been very honest with me. He's always told me exactly what he thought. And in tennis, it's not always that easy to do in a player/coach relationship. The player is sometimes the one in charge. I think sometimes coaches are not always that comfortable doing that. But he's been extremely honest with me. If I work hard, he's happy. If I don't, he's disappointed, and he'll tell me."

Lendl also made sure Murray recovered from the loss to Roger Federer in last year's final. "He told me he was proud of the way I played because I went for it when I had chances," said Murray of his four-set defeat by the Swiss player. "It was the first time I'd played in a grand-slam final like that. He's got my mentality slightly different going into those sort of matches."

This confidence could only have helped when Murray was sitting in his chair contemplating serving for the greatest prize in tennis. "I was thinking, honestly, where I was going to serve my first serve. Often when you're serving for matches, the first point of the game can be crucial. So I was thinking exactly where I was going to serve," he said.

An incredible end to the match ensued with Murray eventually taking a fourth match point after saving two break points. "It was the hardest game ever," said Murray.

He spoke about how he has moved from being a child in a tennis wilderness to being the main player in the most famous tournament in the world. What was the key? "I think I persevered. That's really been it, the story of my career probably. I had a lot of tough losses, but the one thing I would say is I think every year I always improved a little bit. They weren't major improvements, massive changes, but every year my ranking was going in the right direction," he said.

"I was always going a little bit further in the slams. I kept learning and I just kept working as hard as I could. When I lost those matches sometimes I dealt with them badly, but I think the last few losses that I've had in slam finals I've dealt with a lot better."

He also admitted that the burden of being the standard bearer at Wimbledon and the last, best hope to end a 77-year-old drought stretching back to Fred Perry had been draining. "It's hard. It's really hard. For the last four or five years, it's been very, very tough, very stressful, a lot of pressure. The few days before the tournament, really difficult, as well," he added.

"It's just kind of everywhere you go. It's so hard to avoid everything because of how big this event is, but also because of the history and no Brit having won. I think I felt a little bit better this year than I did last year. I think now it will become easier. I hope it will. I hope it will."

He admitted he was never convinced that a Wimbledon victory would finally arrive, saying: "It's incredibly difficult to win these events. I don't think that's that well understood sometimes. It takes so much hard work, mental toughness to win these sort of tournaments."

The Scot was also gently upbeat about another British player following in his footsteps. "I would hope that it wouldn't be that long again," he said of the last of Perry's three victories in 1936. "It was an incredibly difficult tournament to win, so it's possible that it could take a long time. But I think with the amount of sort of money invested in the sport in this country, it shouldn't take another 70 odd years."

Murray now ascends to the top table of sporting celebrity with the massive roars from the Centre Court being the first intimations of stellar fame. Will it change him? "Look, I don't know. I don't know how it will change my life. I hope not. I hope not too much," he said.