NEW YORK -- Andy Murray chuckled as he explained the very best part about owning a pair of Grand Slam titles, one from the U. Custom Los Angeles Kings Jerseys .S. Open last year, the other from Wimbledon last month. No more of those nagging, oft-repeated queries -- the ones he heard over and over and over again. "Not too much for me has changed. But the one thing thats been nice is that, literally for five or six years, I did a press conference before every tournament and after every single match, and I got asked that question, Id say, 90 per cent of the time: Why have you never won Wimbledon? When are you going to win Wimbledon? Why have you not won a Grand Slam?" Murray said in an interview with The Associated Press. "So thats the thing that, for me, has been the nicest: Not having to answer that question," he added, standing outside the locker rooms at Arthur Ashe Stadium, not far from the oversized colour picture and silver plaque that commemorate his 2012 victory at Flushing Meadows. "I can just play tennis now and not have to worry about that anymore." Thats right. When the years last major tennis tournament begins on the U.S. Opens blue hard courts Monday, Murray will have other concerns. For example: What might it feel like to defend a Grand Slam championship? Thats something hes never tried to do before, of course. Or how many of these can he win? Or, really, will he even be able to win one more? Yes, for a guy who has accomplished so much over the past 13 months, redefining his career and place in the game, Murray still sounds very much like someone harbouring quite a bit of uncertainty. His success at the U.S. Open in 2012 did, after all, make him the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam title. His success at Wimbledon in July, as everyone knows by now, made him the first British man since Perry 77 years ago to earn the singles trophy at the All England Club. Toss in a London Olympics gold medal, and its been quite a run. "Hes turned into a great player. Hes always been a good hitter of the ball, been a great mover. I think mentally hes a bit better now," 14-time major champion Pete Sampras said recently. "Now he feels like he belongs." Maybe. But Murray also remembers what came before. He remembers -- and, much to his chagrin, there was a time when he frequently was reminded of it by others -- that he lost each of the first four Grand Slam finals he reached. "I know how long it took me to win one and how hard it is to win them. I know its possible I may not win another one," the 26-year-old from Scotland said, his tone and facial expression earnest. "So I just want to keep trying to put myself in position to win Grand Slams and hopefully I can do the same again here." Indeed, Murray anticipates some shakiness at the start of the U.S. Open. Instead of declaring that he will step on court with the bravado of a defending champion, Murray wonders whether his play might be affected in a bad way at the outset of this U.S. Open because of what happened a year ago. "Depending on how the tournament goes, at the start of the tournament, I expect to be pretty nervous and feel maybe more pressure than I have in some years," he said. "But then I would hope, if I can do well and get through the first few rounds, that it would actually give me confidence. Once I get myself into the tournament, I may calm down and actually start feeling more confident that I can win the event. Whereas before, it might have actually been the opposite. I might have felt OK at the start, and when I got closer to the end of the tournament, felt more pressure and more nerves and less confidence." The 2012 womens champion, Serena Williams, owns 16 Grand Slam titles, four at the U.S. Open. Usually when she loses at a major tournament, the sting sticks around for a while. That was the case with this years Wimbledon, where her 34-match winning streak surprisingly ended with a fourth-round exit. "I was obviously bothered. I wanted to do better. I was disappointed. Im still disappointed," Williams said, 7 1/2 weeks after that setback. "But I had opportunities and I didnt take them in the match. I have to realize that I have to just be better and learn from the experience. Its not the end of the world. I can always do better and keep growing." Asked what advice she might offer Murray about attempting to repeat as champion at a Grand Slam tournament, the No. 1-seeded Williams said: "For me, its not about defending. Its about: This is the U.S Open. I want to try to win this title. Last year was last year. Now its time to try to have fun this year. Thats how I look at it." Murray is seeded No. 3, and the expectation is that he or one of the men ahead of him, No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Rafael Nadal, will hold the trophy after the final, which is scheduled for Sept. 9. Its the first time since 1954 that the tournament is supposed to end on a Monday (the mens final was played on a Monday each of the past five years, but that was because of rain delays). That trio divvied up the seasons first three Grand Slam titles, with Djokovic winning his fourth at the Australian Open, and Nadal his eighth at the French Open. They also have split the past three U.S. Open titles (Nadal won in 2010, Djokovic in 2011). Another past U.S. Open champion, Roger Federer, is seeded only No. 7 this time, his lowest spot in New York since 2002. Federer is coming off a second-round loss at Wimbledon, ending his record run of 36 consecutive major quarterfinal appearances. Another streak remains intact, though: The U.S. Open will be Federers 56th Grand Slam tournament in a row, tying the mens record. Federer turned 32 this month, and hes dealt with a bothersome back and a brief experiment with a different racket, while losing matches to a couple of guys ranked outside the top 100. Any chance he could add to his 17 Grand Slam trophies? "At this stage," said John McEnroe, a seven-time major champion and ESPN analyst, "its going to be quite, quite difficult for him to win another one." A photograph of Federer hangs in a hall near the Arthur Ashe Stadium locker rooms, staring right at Murrays poster across the way. The big difference: Federer won the U.S. Open five times, every year from 2004-08. "I came here for the first time when I was 15. You walk down these corridors, and you look at all the great players who have played here," Murray said. "To be up on the wall next to them is a nice feeling." Kurtis MacDermid Jersey .C. -- Benn Ferrieros familiar with scoring important goals, just not in back-to-back games. Jeff Carter Kings Jersey . Austin does not believe the game-time temperature is going to be an advantage for either side heading into the Grey Cup. "We dont think about (the cold)," said Austin. "Im not even sure how you would determine an advantage. http://www.kingsauthentic.com/authentic-kyle-clifford-kings-jersey/ . Spencer Abbott and Trevor Smith scored third-period goals erasing a 2-1 deficit giving Toronto a late 3-2 lead.TORONTO -- Ken Hitchcock has a theory on how to deal with his team not scoring a lot of goals. "Just not talk about it," he said. "Talk about something else." Thats the approach the Stanley Cup-winning coach is taking with his St. Louis Blues, who have gone through a mini scoring slump. Of course they still lead the Western Conference, which is based on large part on being one of the NHLs stingiest defensive teams. "Ive always believed, like a lot of coaches, if youre not scoring, talk about checking. If you check better, youre going to get more chances," Hitchcock said Monday at Air Canada Centre. "The structure of our game, were just going to weather the storm. The structure of our game has got to stay solid like it is right now, and then well weather it and well come out on the other side fine." An 82-game regular season is a totally different animal than the Olympics, but a similar philosophy guided Team Canada to gold. Worries about a lack of offence from star forwards -- at least externally -- lasted well into the playoff round, but those were quieted by dominant play on the puck. "Its about controlling the hockey game. And you dont control the hockey game with offence, you control it with checking," said Hitchcock, who was one of Mike Babcocks assistants in Sochi. "We were tied or leading by one goal -- we werent concerned with the way we were playing that we werent scoring. It doesnt matter if youre leading 5-4 going into the third period or 1-0 as long as you have the lead youre in good shape." Like with Canada, Hitchcock said he feels comfortable seeing the Blues checking well because it means theyre "committed to the right things." One of those things hes proud of is that for a couple of games in a row St. Louis has displayed a high work standard. To Hitchcock, thats a bigger deal -- the way the Blues play -- than having ann offence thats always rolling or a power play thats constantly clicking at a high rate. Drew Doughty Kings Jersey. As far as special teams go, hes more concerned about the penalty kill and what that could mean come playoff time. "Ive seen a lot of (teams) who have had bad power plays do really well in the playoffs, but Ive never seen any team play worth a damn if you cant kill penalties," Hitchcock said. "Its more on can you kill the penalty at the right time because you can live with poor power plays and still win hockey games. But you cant survive if you cant kill penalties because your whole game falls apart, youre nervous, youre uptight, you panic and weve got to be great killing penalties." That would also follow Canadas blueprint. The gold-medal-winning Canadians converted on just 16.67 per cent of their power plays in six games, middle of the pack in the tournament, yet led the Olympics with a 93.75 per cent penalty-killing rate, giving up one goal on 16 chances. Hitchcock, though, must guide the Blues through choppier waters than Canada endured at the Olympics. Sixteen playoff victories are required to win the Stanley Cup, and most of those wont be by large margins. Perhaps thats one way the Blues balance plays in their favour. The have no one player in the top 35 in the league in scoring, but 10 with at least 30 points, led by Alex Steen and T.J. Oshies 54. St. Louis isnt built on scoring, which means they could be built to withstand droughts like this. "Youre going to go through stages where youre not scoring, and youre still going to have to win hockey games," Hitchcock said. "If youve got to win for a week or 10 days, youve got to win 1-0, 2-1, youve got to do it until you get back engaged where youre going to score again." Until then, the Blues are happy to talk about -- and execute on -- checking well and frustrating opponents in the process. ' ' '