But I am here to work and now that the tournament is starting, everything feels like it always does. Not a lot of changes over the Christmas break and I think when you look at the rankings, it is the same guys, really, who will be challenging for the title here and over the coming year. Fine-tuning: Andy Murray prepares for the Open. Credit:Getty Images When we all come back from the off-season, it's not like we are all staring at each other in the locker room to see who has changed, who has got bigger or stronger. If someone has put on a lot of weight or lost a lot of weight, you would definitely notice that. Most of the players at the top of the game are normally not making huge changes in that respect – maybe one or two kilos, but it's very difficult to tell that. You can sometimes see more so with the younger players – you can see things that they've changed in their game. Sometimes guys have got new coaches and they are trying to do different stuff on the court when you watch their matches. But not a lot changes. I think that when you look at the season coming up, you would expect that some of the players who are a bit younger will continue to improve – like Nishikori or Raonic or Dimitrov. If you are trying to pick out the guys who could make a breakthrough this year, you look at Kyrgios, Dominic Thiem – he's been playing well – they are both big guys. Tomic is playing well, too, and he sort of went a bit under the radar last year, but he finished inside the top 20 and won some tournaments and he's a tough guy to play, too. But I also wouldn't write off the current crop of players either.

Obviously, Novak had the best season of his life last year, Roger played great tennis at times, Rafa was improving at the end of last year so I think things are going to start changing soon, and there are more guys coming through it seems. The big day: Andy Murray and Kim Sears leave get married last April. Credit:Getty Images When you consider what Novak did last year, it looks like he is the only man to beat but you never know in sport, especially individual sport. A lot of things can change. Last year, I had a lot of very close matches with Novak and didn't win as many as I would have liked so I think in terms of knowing how to win the match, I think tactically I have it, but it's being able to sustain it for a long enough period. And Roger a couple of times last year pushed him pretty close, too. Like in the US Open final, again he had a lot of chances, lot of break points, and didn't take them. Novak last year had a lot of confidence and played unbelievably well, but it's about sustaining your level for long enough to win the matches against him. For me, one change this season is that my coach, Amelie Mauresmo, is travelling with me again. She had a baby boy last August and was away from the tour for a few months but they are both here now in Melbourne.

Loading Because I'm now in that position, I know now that when you are just a few weeks away from having a baby that it's not easy to concentrate exactly on what it is that you're doing, but now that she has had her son, it's clear that she really wants to do the job, that she's wanted to come back and do it and travel and be part of the team. That, for me, it gives me confidence that she believes in me and thinks that I can achieve the biggest prizes. So, that was nice for me that she wanted to commit to doing the job. I've been in four finals here and obviously the goal is to win the title this year and I think it's definitely possible. There are no guarantees, but it's definitely possible because I've been so close in the past. There's no reason why I can't, but I'll need to play my best – even my best ever – if I want to do it.