ANDY MURRAY's last US Open final appearance went by in a flash.

Now he feels older, wiser and ready to take the occasion in his stride.

The Scot will be pitched into his fifth Grand Slam final against Novak Djokovic in New York tonight, and the Olympic champion feels more than ready to embrace his destiny.

That wasn't the case when he turned up here in 2008 as a raw 21-year-old and suffered a bruising straight sets defeat to Roger Federer.

"I'm obviously a lot more mature," the 25-year-old said. "I have had a lot more experience in these sort of situations, you know, than I had then.

"It was my first Slam final. It all came round very quick. After playing Rafa [Nadal, in the semi-final] and going from Armstrong to Ashe and then playing the next day, it seemed to go by very, very quickly. I hope I deal with it better."

The Scot is being willed on by a nation, as witnessed by the episode after his semi-final victory over Tomas Berdych when Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Sean Connery gatecrashed his post-match press conference in the company of his mum Judy. It was the first time the Scot had met either and said he was thankful for the support of two Knights of the Realm.

"You know, that's the first time I've met Sir Alex and first time I met Sir Sean, as well," he said. "It's obviously nice to have their support."

No-one wants the Scot to win the thing more than he does, however. Now that he has an Olympic gold medal round his neck, clinching a world title genuinely is the last piece of the jigsaw in the Scot's career. He may go on to win many more, but for now one will be sufficient.

His four previous Grand Slam finals have only amounted in a hard luck story, but the 25-year-old dearly wants to write a new chapter.

"I mean, obviously it's the last thing that I really want to achieve in my career, so that's why it's obviously very important for me," the Scot said.

"But winning the Olympics did, for me, take a bit of the pressure off. I felt a lot better after that. I maybe had less doubts about myself and my place in the game just now.

"Winning a major is the last thing that I really want to do. It means a lot to me. You saw at Wimbledon how much that meant to me. It's obviously not easy to lose another Slam final, so I hope this one is different."

Murray will have a 24-hour advantage on Djokovic for the final, the Scot having his feet up yesterday while the Serb fought back from a set down to beat David Ferrer. The Serb has an 8-6 head-to-head advantage in matches between the pair, although the four meetings this year have been shared out equally, Djokovic winning in five sets in this year's Australian Open semi-final and Murray avenging that setback with a straight-sets win in the Olympic semi-final.

"I handled a big match against him well in Australia this year," Murray said.

"It was a great match. I think both of us played very well. It came down to a couple of points. You know, I know how much the Olympics meant to all of the players, and winning against him in the Olympic semi-final, you know, was a big win for me.

"I know how tough it is to beat the top, top players in big matches. So I have had some tough losses against him, but also had some big highs against him, as well."

"It will obviously be an unbelievably tough match," he went on. "I mean, he moves very well on the hard courts. He's a top, top player, one of the best players that's played. You know, the year he had last year is incred-ible. I know it's going to be a very, very tough match."

The weather was calm and placid at Flushing Meadows yesterday, 24 hours after the Scot had to endure severe gusting winds in the New York area on Super Saturday.

His opponent Berdych claimed the match shouldn't have gone ahead, but Murray said there is a masochistic pleasure in seeing top professionals toiling against the conditions.

"You know, there is a skill to playing in the wind," he said. "People like to watch professionals struggle when they're in tough conditions. Ivan [Lendl, Murray's coach] always says he likes watching the golfers when it's blowing really hard, because it makes them hit bad shots and makes him feel a lot better."