Graphic: how Murray compares to Henman

I first remember him as a boy who was quite shy and didn’t say much to anybody. I watched his adolescence, when he was widely misunderstood and landed in trouble for saying things at the wrong time. Now I look at him as a man and I am increasingly impressed.

There is not a trace of either partisan affinity or resentment when I declare that Andy Murray is perfectly equipped and undeniably ready to go a couple of steps further than I ever managed and win Wimbledon. Do I place him as the favourite to take the trophy next month? No, you have to say Roger Federer is once again the man to beat and will be riding on the crest of a wave after finally winning the French Open and equalling Pete Sampras’ collection of 14 major titles. But nobody can put Andy far behind and, because he has beaten Roger in all four of their meetings on the ATP world tour since last September’s US Open final, an encounter on Centre Court becomes an even more enticing prospect.

The rise of Andy Murray has been astonishing. From our first meeting I realised he had a tremendous future but not in my wildest dreams did I think that just a few months past his 22nd birthday he would be both the third-ranked player in the world and a definite contender for a major title.

He is already a far, far better player than I ever was and I believe he is still some way short of his peak. The past year has been phenomenal for him if you take the disappointment of the Olympic Games out of the equation. He’s reached the final of a Grand Slam, won Masters Series titles in Cincinnati, Madrid and Miami, beaten Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as well as Federer. And he has become the highest-ranked British male player yet.

Not bad for somebody that many misguided souls were writing off as physically inadequate just a year or so ago. Personally I didn’t see it that way. When Andy came up short on stamina and strength a while back I believed he was trying to play a game that his body wasn’t quite ready for. Perhaps too many people compared him with Nadal, who is the strongest player I’ve seen on a tennis court and somebody Andre Agassi refers to in a totally complimentary way as a freak of nature.

I believed it would be only a matter of time before Andy became completely physically equipped to compete at the highest level, although I didn’t realise he would progress quite so quickly.

There had been a lot of talk about him from a very young age. I used to go down to the Lawn Tennis Association to practise and ask about various juniors. You’d get told such and such wasn’t too bad, or needed to do this or that. But when it came to discussing Andy there was always a confident nod and admission that he was something special.

I well remember the first time we met, a little over five years ago, when he came as part of the British Davis Cup team to a tie in Luxembourg. He was injured at the time, just along for the experience, but it was clear to me that his sights were set very high.

He was a young boy back then and a lot less physically developed. While he didn’t say much, you could tell from his quiet manner that he took everything on board, assimilated it in his own way and made up his own mind on things.

His mind was completely full of tennis. He did not just know the playing records and rankings of the top guys. He also knew what shots they liked to play and which ones they found more testing. He knew the rackets they used, what string tension they preferred, what shoes they wore. It struck something of a chord with me. I was exactly the same at a similar age. Anoraks, some might call us. I prefer to think we were engrossed in the sport and so wanted to do well that we wanted to learn and embrace everything available.

The first time we hit strokes together was something like five months later on a Davis Cup training weekend on clay in La Manga, Spain. Andy had just won the US Open junior title and that meeting gave me first-hand experience of just how talented he was with a racket in his hand. Within a couple of years we played on the tour three times and he beat me on every occasion.

Nevertheless, when he first came on to the tour I suppose I acted as something of a surrogate big brother to him. He repeatedly asked me for advice and I’d regularly give it on matters such as travel schedules, dealing with the press or simply which hotel to use.

We’d practise together a lot of the time and share dinner tables several times a week. We had something of an affinity and I was more than happy to pass things on, though he was never one to impose.

Of course, I was aware he was struggling to come to terms with some things connected with being Britain’s top tennis player. He wasn’t totally comfortable in the spotlight and resented a few observations about his character and personality. To be thrust into the position of being public property is not easy.

More recently I have noticed him becoming far better adjusted to all the demands. He seems much happier, more attuned and I think it’s been a natural progression because his game and body have both grown stronger and stronger. If I have played a small part in the maturing of Andy Murray into a potential Grand Slam champion then I am more than happy.

Now I go along with the belief that it’s no longer a question of whether he will win Wimbledon or one of the other big ones — it’s just a matter of when for Andy Murray.