He's newly knighted and top seed for the first time, but Sir Andy Murray is taking nothing for granted in his latest bid for long-awaited Australian Open glory.
Not even his lowly-ranked first-round opponent.
Ilya Marchenko, a 29-year-old journeyman from Ukraine ranked 95th in the world, is hardly a household name.
But the latest addition to tennis royalty is treating Marchenko with due respect ahead of Monday's first men's match of the 2017 Open on Rod Laver Arena.
Murray is well aware Marchenko enjoyed his best-ever run in his last grand slam, ousting Nick Kyrgios from the US Open before falling to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka in the round of 16.
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"I saw him playing a bit at the US Open. He had a good run there a few months ago. Also had a very tight match with Wawrinka there," Murray said.
"He's not easy. He fights very hard. He's got a great attitude. Plays predominantly from the back of the court and moves well. He doesn't give you too many free points."
In reality, the five-times runner-up should have too many guns for the Ukraine, with Murray's first major threat likely to come in the fourth round against rising Frenchman Lucas Pouille, the 16th seed.
Murray could face Roger Federer in the quarter-finals and fancies his chances of finally breaking through at Melbourne Park after losing to the Swiss in the 2010 final and to Novak Djokovic in four more title deciders since, including the past two.
"I think I'm in a decent position, for sure, to do it," Murray said.
"I have a chance to win here. Obviously nothing's guaranteed. But, yeah, why not?
"I'm playing well. Practice has been good. I feel healthy. I'll give it a good shot."
With Djokovic having mountains of points to defend until Wimbledon after last year's Open victory and defeat of Murray also in Paris, the Great Scot is likely to remain world No.1 for months to come.
And he plans to enjoy his time in the sun after taking seven years to reach the summit since first reaching world No.2.
"The reality is, in sport, that things obviously keep moving on; the game will get better, I'll obviously get older, the young guys will continue to improve," Murray said.
"And also Novak and Roger and Stan (Wawrinka) and Rafa (Nadal) and all the guys at the top are still going to be wanting to get there."
Djokovic, relegated to second seeding for the first time in three years, opens his bid for a record seventh title on Tuesday against Spanish dangerman Fernando Verdasco.
Federer, who plays veteran qualifier Jurgen Melzer, gets underway on Monday night.
Fourth-seeded Wawrinka, facing Martin Klizan, fifth seed Kei Nishikori, who plays Andrey Kuznetsov, and Australia's two men's seeds - Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic - also feature on the day one program.
