Olympic champion Andy Murray still hungers for his first Grand Slam tennis title and he hopes he doesn't have to miss a chance over a possible men's player boycott of next January's Australian Open.
British third seed Murray made a triumphant start to his US Open title bid by overcoming a poor serving performance and a woeful start on Monday for a 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Russian Alex Bogomolov at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 25-year-old Scotsman then addressed the potential for a players' revolt over the percentages of Grand Slam revenues that are allocated to players, an issue that has had ATP stars fuming since a meeting at Melbourne in January.
"When we went through the player meeting at the Aussie Open, it was pretty brutal. Everyone was speaking up," Murray said. "The whole tour was kind of together. They still are.
"The majority of the players want to see a change in the Grand Slams. Who knows what's going to happen?"
Elite players are less concerned with their own payout as those of their rivals below the top 60, who must pay for expenses and travel without as much of the financial reward as well-sponsored stars.
As players await a proposal on the matter from the Grand Slams before the end of the year and likely by the end of the ATP season, the issue bubbles behind the scenes and a boycott threat for Australia sparks some concern.
"I hope it doesn't come down to that," Murray said. "I think that's bad for everybody, really.
"There are so many things that go into something like that, with lawyers, forming unions, all sorts of different scenarios that need to be thought through first.
"I think right now it's a long way away, but I don't know how serious everybody is about it. If in the next month or two months they get everything sorted and ready to go, then I'll have a better answer."
In the meantime, Murray took the measure of Bogomolov, ranked 73rd, and advanced to a second-round meeting with Croatia's 118th-ranked Ivan Dodig despite hitting only 28 percent of his first serves in the first set.
"I just didn't serve well most of the match. That's why I felt OK when I lost serve I broke straight back both times," Murray said of the start, which saw four service breaks to open the match.
"I won in three sets. I didn't serve very well. Only lost seven games in three sets, so I must have done something well," Murray said. "I would have liked to have served a bit better because I wasn't getting many free points on my serve. Because of that, there were a lot more rallies."
The extra exertion led Murray to cramp in the fifth game of the last set, grabbing his left leg to spark a moment of injury fear in spectators.
"Just a little bit of a cramp," Murray said. "It was very humid on the court. Maybe I didn't take enough fluid. It happens.
"I haven't played that many matches in that sort of humidity for a while. It's probably a bit of a shock to the body. I need to make sure I'm on that for the next match."
With a confidence boost coming off the Olympics that has helped ease the disappointment of last month's Wimbledon final loss to US Open top seed Roger Federer, Murray likes his mental condition entering the US Open.
"After the Wimbledon final a few weeks previously, you have a lot of doubts about yourself, but after winning a match like (the Olympic final) you forget about all of those things... Mentally I feel like I'm in a good place."
Dodig finds himself in Murray's path.
"I'm really looking forward to playing him," Dodig said. "I will try to play my best match. He's a top player and from all sides playing good. I have to be aggressive and risk a lot and hope everything goes onto the court."
