Over the next week or so we will learn much more about where Andy Murray is in his comeback and among those most eager to find out is his fellow British former US Open champion Virginia Wade.
With little hard evidence to go on and the 31-year-old Scot ever careful not to give away details about the true state of his hip, Wade — being celebrated here this week on the 50th anniversary of her title win — is having to go off what she has seen with her own eyes.
‘I watched his matches in Washington and he looked really lame still,’ said the player who went on to win Wimbledon nine years later.
Andy Murray has a lot to prove at the US Open as he seeks to get back to his best
Murray has endured much misfortune with injuries but will now hope to stay fit
‘I think he’s still a work in progress. He has to look at himself like that but he’s such a good player so I don’t know how anyone beats him in five sets.’
When Murray faces Australia’s James Duckworth on Monday on the impressively rebuilt Louis Armstrong Stadium it will be his first best-of-five test since losing in Wimbledon’s quarter-final last year.
As Wade noted, nobody will know how far advanced he would now be if he had not spent nearly six months trying to rehabilitate the injury before finally opting for surgery in January.
‘He took a long time off, if he had got that taken care of after Wimbledon last summer rather than waiting until the beginning of the year… if you wait too long it takes you a really long time to come back.
‘But he’s too good a player not to, he has got many more aspects to his game than a lot of other players,’ she said.
Former US Open champion Virginia Wade insists that Murray is still a work in progress
‘He’s never going to give up and he can hit the ball for ever so it’s a huge mental challenge to beat Andy.’
Part of that challenge for opponents this week is seeing him walk awkwardly between points some of the time and then move like a gazelle during rallies.
He had enough mobility at the start of this month to beat three opponents in long three-set matches, including fellow Brit Kyle Edmund in Washington.
After the last of those wins, at 3am, he wept into his towel, after narrowly overcoming world No 93 Marius Copil.
There were some comically over-the-top interpretations of his outpouring at the time, but again Murray has carefully avoided any specifics about his overt show of emotion, if it was fatigue, elation, pain or some kind of despair at the effort it took, or a combination.
He pulled out of his next match and has played only once since, losing in three sets to Frenchman Lucas Pouille two weeks ago.
Murray, ranked a nominal 382, is said to have been looking sharp in practice and he could not have a better first-round draw.
World No 448 Duckworth has also entered under the injury special exemption rule and has endured an even rougher time with physical ailments than 2012 champion Murray. In the last 18 months he has undergone five separate surgeries, to his feet, elbow and shoulder.
Assuming he goes through Murray has a winnable second round against either of the Spanish veterans Fernando Verdasco or Feliciano Lopez, but then would come another former champion in Juan Martin Del Potro.
The 31-year-old takes on Australia’s James Duckworth on Monday as he starts his campaign
There will be much focus on Murray’s fitness as he looks to start performing consistently
That would be a huge obstacle, but nobody will relish facing the Scot, especially when there is so little pressure upon him to do well.
With the wait for a serious young contender to emerge likely to go into next year, Del Potro might be the biggest threat to the established trio of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Djokovic is seeded sixth but the smart money should be on him, now that he has rediscovered his desire.
This is also going to be the first Grand Slam broadcast in the UK by Amazon Prime Video, so it will be less visible than in recent years.
Some may be put off getting more involved with a company that has a dubious record of employment practices and paying tax. Others, especially tennis’s core 50-plus audience, will be deterred by the hassle of figuring out how to get it on their television.