If Dan Evans, Britain’s tenth-ranked player, is correct when he says that “everyone wants a bit of what Andy Murray’s doing”, the Scot’s achievements in the past six months will have widespread and lasting repercussions.

Murray may be oblivious to The Murray Effect, but should his form drag the rest up by their bootstraps, Britain ought to have more than one male player worthy of regard. Catching the mood, the LTA will offer free admission to anyone under 16 who attends with an adult the Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone group one tie against Ukraine, at the Braehead Arena, Glasgow, in March.

Murray, whose first opponent in the BNP Paribas Masters tomorrow is Sam Querrey, of the United States, feels as strong as an ox at present, but craves additional power. “To get ready for Australia [the next grand-slam tournament, in January], I want to gain another three kilos of strength and muscle,” he said. “If I can stay fit and work hard, I hope to have an even better year next year.”

Querrey said yesterday that “arguably, he [Murray] is the best player in the world right now”. If it came down to “show us your medals”, Roger Federer has 13 grand-slam tournament titles, Rafael Nadal five, Djokovic one and Murray is just a pretender, but give him time and he will make it.

The world No 4 has won 30 of his past 34 matches, 12 straight since losing the US Open final to Federer and, for this tournament, he is the prized scalp. Querrey is 6ft 6in with an attitude of “what the heck” that makes him dangerous. “Neither of us has anything to lose,” he said. “This is my last event of the year and Andy has already qualified for Shanghai.”

Marat Safin was 20 when he won the first of his three titles at the Palais Omnisports, soon after his maiden grand-slam win in New York. Now, at nearly 29, the Russian is in one of his all-at-sea spells and was beaten in the first round yesterday, 6-0, 7-6, by Juan Mónaco, an Argentine qualifier.