NEW YORK - Andy Murray was quick to learn the value of tennis celebrity status, as the new US Open champion and his 30 closest friends ate on the house at a New York Chinese restaurant.  

After he broke his Grand Slam duck with his 7-6 (12-10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 finals victory over Novak Djokovic, Team Murray and friends descended on a Manhattan establishment and stayed for two hours, with local tabloids reporting the evening’s celebratory menu - a steamed dim sum platter, crispy duck salad with pomelo, pine nut and shallot, plus salt and pepper squid.

In addition to a food tab in excess of $5,000, there were also the drinks, through the new champion stuck to his teetotaler lifestyle by celebrating with an innocent lemon fizz. For the rest, there were 17 martinis, five bottles of top-shelf Louis Roederer French champagne and other libations worth more than $1,400. But the dinner food and drink came at no charge to the tennis hero, who got it all comped, courtesy of his new status as a Grand Slam champion in the style of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic. The restaurant was happy to provide the full discount, leaving Murrayto just chip in a tip of nearly $1,300. That would have left him plenty of change from his $1.9 million winner›s cheque.

Murray was quietly stunned after his victory in the fifth straight Open final played a day late on a Monday due to New York’s notorious rainy weather and the lack of a roof on any show court.

Murray, now third in the rankings behind Federer and Djokovic, said he felt nothing but sweet relief as he broke a British tennis hoodoo going back more than three-quarters of a century, becoming the first from his nation to win a Grand Slam title since 1936 when Fred Perry last lifted a British trophy at a major.

Murray came good on his fifth Grand Slam final. “You’re in a little bit of disbelief because when I have been in that position many times before and not won, you do think “is it ever going to happen? Then when it finally does, you very, very excited.” said the 25-year-old, who admitted he shed a few quiet tears of joy on court after the marathon lasting four hours 54 minutes.

“Mainly you are relieved to have got over that, that last hurdle.” Murray, who has been close so many times, said he felt the nerves at the end. “I know when I was serving for the match, there’s a sense of how big a moment that is in British tennis history really.

That obviously adds to it. I know more than most British players, I have been asked about it many times when I got close to winning Grand Slams before. “I get asked about it more and more even after I won the Olympics. I still got asked, When are you going to win a Grand Slam? ” The London Games gold medallist added: “It’s great to have finally done it. I hope it takes away the notion that British tennis players choke or don’t win or it’s not a good sport.”

Murray said that his London Games success over Roger Federer for the gold was a different sort of joy than the one he experienced in the New York. «At the Olympics there was so much going on, with all of the other sports. There was a lot of momentumand stuff. I also had also the mixed doubles to focus on a bit. When you know you’re guaranteed a couple of silver medals, that also maybe helped me a little bit going into the final there.

“Here I was still doubting myself right up to a few minutes before you go on to play the match. You’re thinking, ‘are you going to be able to do this? This is going to be tough.’" The match against him always is going to hurt as well. Physically it’s challenging. “I’m still very fortunate to be able to do this for a living. But when you get so close to achieving really my last goal, I had left tennis (winning a Grand Slam) and when you have been there many times and not done it, it’s easy to doubt yourself."

“I’m glad I managed to finally do it. I’m happy I was able to do it for all the guys I work with, as well, because they have been with me pretty much from the start and seen all of those things that go on away from the court.”

Off court, American Andy Roddick retired from tennis with a joke after making the announcement on his 30th birthday that he was hanging up his racquet. He lost his last match 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-4 against Juan Del Potro in the fourth round of the US Open.

Roddick was quick with a response when asked how he wanted to be remembered: “I want everyone to look back and think that I was awesome,” adding: “I’m probably not going to be opposed to a beer or ten (in celebration).

We’ll see how that goes.“I don’t know what the emotions are. I’m a little overwhelmed right now,” said the player who defined the home game for a decade, standing world No. 1 for 13 weeks and winning 612 matches and 32 titles.

He won his only Grand Slam - the last claimed by an American man - at the Open nine years ago. “I normally feel like I can grasp things pretty quickly and clearly; I certainly don’t feel that way right now.

“This was all new for me. I had seen most things that this game had to offer, and this was entirely new” said Roddick. «It was emotional, but not emotional like we normally have it.

“It’s normally a very selfish emotion for us. If we do badly then it costs us something; if we do well we get great things. This was about something bigger. It wasn’t about ranking points or paychecks or anything else.

“It was fun. This week I felt like I was 12 years old playing in a park. It was extremely innocent. That was fun. I enjoyed it.” Roddick, based in Austin, is expected to devote more time to his charity foundation as he finds his way in his new life.

With the Davis Cup final away to the Czech Republic approaching November 16-18, Spain are hoping against the odds that injured Rafael Nadal might be fit after the chronic knee injuries which have kept him off court for three months and counting.

The tennis powerhouse nation will be looking to lift a sixth trophy in the worldwide team competition.

“I hope he gets better soon because he is really fundamental for us,” said David Ferrer, who led the squad easily past the 32-time champion US in September and into a fourth Davis Cup final in five years.

Nadal has been circumspect about his chances of a return this season as he tries to heal a major case of tendonitis in his dodgy left knee. He has repeatedly said he has no return date but will only step back on court when he is completely healed.

“We will monitor the players over the coming weeks, talk to all those we think appropriate, and go and see what condition they are in and then choose the players we think appropriate,” said new Spanish Davis Cup captain Alex Corretja. “We always hope to count on everyone and obviously Rafa is the same as everyone else.”