Andy Murray believes other British players winning at Wimbledon boosts his own bid to be crowned champion at the All England Club for a second time.
Four British men are into round two at SW19 for the first time since 2006 as Murray ensured progress with a 6-4 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin on Tuesday.
Joining the Scot are James Ward and Aljaz Bedene, as well as Liam Broady who won on Monday, while Heather Watson also made it through in the women’s draw.
Murray takes a strong interest in his compatriots’ results and while the British number one insists it is not his job to bring through the next generation of stars, he admits their success does help his own performance.
“It’s good for British tennis. The more wins and more players we can have in these events, it makes a difference,” Murray said.
“For me, it’s nice, I know all of them fairly well.
“I’ve obviously spent a lot of time training with James, really more in the last 12 to 18 months.
“Aljaz I don’t know so well, Heather obviously had a good win today, too.”
Murray added: “Is it important to my legacy? No, because that’s the job of the LTA, to capitalise on any success that players have just now.
“That isn’t up to me, I don’t think. But what I do enjoy doing is being around the other British players, chatting to them, helping them, practising with them.
“Being around them is good for me, as well. It helps them too so it’s win-win really.
“But I don’t feel like it’s my job to also create more tennis players. That’s the job of the LTA.”
Murray and his fellow Britons had to overcome sweltering heat, with temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius during the afternoon in south-west London.
Holland’s Robin Haase now awaits Murray in round two on Thursday and the weather may turn even hotter as the week goes on.
“It was definitely hot today, I haven’t played loads of matches on that court when it has been as warm as that,” Murray said.
“The day I played Novak (Djokovic) in the final, it was extremely hot, but I don’t remember playing so many matches at Wimbledon where it was into the thirties.
“The on-court temperature, I was told, was 41 degrees when I was playing so it was very hot. That changes the way the court plays and the way the match plays out, too.
“I was glad to get off in three sets and a couple of hours because ideally you don’t want to be playing extremely long matches in those conditions because it’s tough.”