A year since his retirement and with his first exposure to the television commentary box at Wimbledon this year recognised as a qualified success, Tim Henman is on the brink of expanding his tennis portfolio. The former British No 1 and six-times grand-slam tournament semi-finalist has allowed his name to be put forward for a place on the management committee of the All England Club.

The prospect of Henman sitting in the front row of the royal box 20 years from now is an appealing one. Whether he would feel comfortable as a potential chairman, who knows, but that he is willing to dip his toe into the minutiae of managing is an encouraging sign. It is hard to believe 12 months have passed since Henman, 33, offered his parting shot as a grand-slam player, against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, during which time Andy Murray has slipped ever more comfortably into his shoes.

Henman has enjoyed being more of a full-time father to his three daughters and reducing his golf handicap, but brushing shoulders again with the high-rollers of the sport during the championships obviously whetted his appetite to find out how the club is run and how he may one day run the club. The vote will be taken at the annual meeting just before Christmas. It should be a lively affair.

Jane and Tony Henman, Tim’s parents, were in attendance at Flushing Meadows yesterday, having played their part for the club in a fixture on Long Island last week, but more to celebrate their family’s place in the US Open’s Home Court exhibition that underlines “the timeless relationship of tennis and family”. Jane’s father, Henry Billington, played at Wimbledon between 1948 and 1951 and was joined by his wife, Susan, in the mixed. Fifty years earlier Jane Henman’s grandmother, Ellen Stanwell-Brown, was reputedly the first woman to serve overarm at the championships.

The action caught on. There was not too much dynamite from Murray’s serving arm at the Louis Armstrong Stadium yesterday as the new British No 1 glided gently into the second round of the US Open with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Sergio Roitman, of Argentina, that was as clean-cut as he had hoped it would be. On an increasingly steamy, blustery day, when storms threatened but never materialised, the Scot was the epitome of undemonstrative resolve.

As he had said, these occasions are all about getting the job done with the minimum of physical exertion and stress. Roitman had no grand-slam record to speak of, but he packed something of a punch at times and it was up to Murray to take care of the smallest details with maximum command. That he did.

At times, his play was quite bewitching, most notably turning defence into attack when he dealt with the more severe of Roitman’s ground strokes with his remarkable twin senses of timing and anticipation. The only time he was troubled was by one outrageous serve that sat up and spat at him. Roitman blew on the end of his racket handle as if it was a smoking gun.

But the best shots were all in Murray’s holster, especially on the final point of the match, when Roitman tossed up a lob, to which the Scot scurried back and, with a flick of his right wrist, caressed a single-handed backhand winner down the line. It did not get much better than that.

Although he will not be happy with a 51 per cent first-service accuracy – that would have been considered careless in the Stanwell-Brown era – he won 13 of his 17 approaches to the net, did not expend unnecessary energy and the match was done and dusted in 95 minutes.

Murray’s potential semi-final opponent here, Rafael Nadal, was required to spend twice as long on court as the Scot in his first-round match. The new world No 1 was two points from dropping the first set against Bjorn Phau, the world No 136 from Germany, before winning it in a tie-break and going on to win 7-6, 6-3, 7-6.

Gaël Monfils, who reached the semi-finals of his native French Open in the spring and gave Roger Federer a run for his money there, is a man with a renewed purpose and a new coach, Roger Rasheed, the Australian who spent three years with Lleyton Hewitt until he questioned the former world No 1’s work ethic and paid for it with his job. Rasheed had been itching to return to the front line, but had not anticipated the call he received from Monfils a few days after Wimbledon.

Monfils, who turns 22 this week, wanted to work with someone who could turn his potential into gold and decided that Rasheed is the man. The Frenchman has an eccentric nature, suspect time-keeping and a dreamy attitude. He will never be far from the headlines: he was the teenage beau of Alize Cornet, the French player, and at the Olympics was romantically linked to Laure Manaudou, the swimmer who had a disappointing Games.

After three games of his match against Pablo Cuevas, of Uruguay, yesterday he asked the umpire if the ankle-high advertising boxes in which the line judges have to stand could be removed as they were getting in his way. There was a commotion on court and, as a compromise, the boxes were nudged to one side. Cuevas was similarly treated, losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.