Marray hopes he and Fleming can write another blockbuster

Four weeks later, the Sheffield journeyman and Freddie Nielsen were celebrating one of the more unlikely success stories of Britain’s memorable sporting summer.

Their fairytale run to the doubles title at the All England Club transformed the career of the 32-year-old Yorkshireman.

It gave him a passport to all the big tournaments on the tennis schedule, a slice of British history that few people can lay claim to, and a special memory to last a lifetime.

Fast forward to the present day and Marray begins his preparations for the defence of his title in a few weeks with a lot more consistency in his life.

He knows where he is headed each week now that he is not scraping a living together tournament to tournament on the Challenger Tour.

And where last year’s unfamiliarity with Neilsen bred an unbeatable bond, now he arrives with a partner he has known for years.

Since Neilsen’s decision to concentrate on singles at the end of last year and a slew of one-time partners, Marray has teamed up with fellow Briton Colin Fleming.

The two linked up in February, and while not necessarily reaping the instant dividends that he enjoyed with his Anglo-Danish alliance last summer, the two begin the grass court season at Queen’s tomorrow comfortable with one another’s game.

“Colin is a great player and a great friend,” said Marray.

“He had a great year last year with Ross Hutchins, but Ross has since had some health problems and hopefully he’s well on the way to getting through those.

“But that left Colin available and with him being of a similar ranking it was a no-brainer to team up with him.

“When I agreed to play Wimbledon with Freddie we never said it would be a long-term partnership or anything like that.

“Singles has always been Freddie’s priority, he’s always played really good doubles along with it.

“I wanted a long-term partner because I only play doubles, so it’s nice to have the same partner week-in, week-out, to work on things together and try and develop as a partnership, rather than playing with different people.

“It wasn’t easy finding that after Wimbledon, finding that somebody with a similar ranking as me to get into the big tournaments.

“You need a ranking of nothing lower than 30 to 40 to get into the Masters Series events, and I was in the late teens, 20s, so needed to find someone with a similar ranking. A lot of the guys were already set for next year, so it was never going to be easy.

“I was trying to find people who I get on well with, and who my game gels with.

“It helps that both Colin and I are British and that we’ve been mates for almost 10 years.

“His game complements mine and vice versa, so I don’t see why we can’t put some good results together this summer.

“We both have had the same coaches the last five years or so and that’s made it an easy transition. We each know the other’s coaching style and what we get out of practice sessions, and that’s made it an easier transition.”

The price – if there is such a thing – of Marray’s extraordinary achievement last year is that where before first- and second-round exits were the norm, now they are seen externally as a drop in the high standards he reached in 2012.

At Roland Garros last week, Marray and Fleming were beaten in the first round. At the Australian and US Opens, Marray did not get beyond the second round.

He has not won a tournament since Wimbledon, a statistic that owes much to the fact that he has stepped up to the highest level of competition because of that breakthrough win.

There have been successes along the way, and injuries too, that have stalled his and Fleming’s progress. But they arrive in London for the grass-court season in confident mood.

“I’ve had a few decent results, and a few others that could have gone the other way,” he lamented.

“It would have been nice to have done better at the French Open. We lost a tight match in the first round, but our preparation was good, we got some good practice in on the clay with it being a surface I’ve not been brought up on and am not that comfortable on.

“You can’t have great results all year round, you’ve just got to try to put in consistent performances and at some stage you’ll hopefully get your reward for that.

“I’m not dwelling on the French Open or getting too downcast about it, I’d rather concentrate on the good things that are on the horizon. Obviously Wimbledon is the big one of the grass court season, so Queen’s is important in the regard that it’s building up to that.

“These last few days have been about practising on grass for the first time, just getting used to the different surface, the different speeds.

“Queen’s is a big tournament in itself. For me it’s about finding my feet on the surface again and trying to get some matches under my belt.”

[email protected]