Andy Murray said on Thursday that at this stage of his career he measures his success by the effort he gives on the court and not the ranking points he accumulates along the way.
By that standard Murray's gutsy 6-7 (5) 6-1 6-4 win over Argentina's Tomas Etcheverry at Indian Wells on Thursday was a triumph, as the Scot was forced to dig deep in the hard-fought battle.
"There are certain things I would like to achieve and certain goals that I set for myself but the number one thing is to give my best effort every single day," he told reporters.
"And if I do that I'll finish my career on a high note and know that I've left it all out there regardless of which ranking I get to or which tournaments I win.
"I always said my goal was getting to the latter stages of the majors, and that's still a big goal for me and I still believe I have that in me. But also what happened in Australia was an incredible experience for me."
At Melbourne Park Murray battled through two grueling five-setters before falling in the third round to Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut. Despite that, he left Australia satisfied with his performance.
"I've had many people come up to me since then saying it was inspiring," he said. "So there are a lot of positives that come out of not having deep runs in majors. It's all about the effort. That's the most important thing."
Still, the 35-year-old former world no1’s solid start to the season has seen him break back into the top 60 and he expects to rise further despite maintaining a limited schedule.
"I think I'll get to the highest ranking I've been at since I had the operations," he said.
Murray underwent hip surgery in 2018 and 2019 and there have been times since then that it appeared he would hang up his racket for good, but his competitive drive continues to burn as bright as ever.
"I'm going to keep working like I have been, fighting like I have in all the matches and we'll see how far I can push this," he said.
Murray faces Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round on Saturday.
