Andy Murray has said that his decision to take a competitive break during February will work to his advantage at Indian Wells.
The world number three has often suffered a slump in form following the Australian Open, where he has reached the final three times in the last four years.
However, this season he has concentrated on training with his coach Ivan Lendl in Miami, believing that it will better prepare him for success.
The Scot, who faces Evgeny Donskoy in the second round, said that his new regime could also help him ahead of the long clay-court season.
"I want to do well in Indian Wells," Murray told The Scotsman. "I want to do well at every tournament this year which, I think, I would have always said before but I wouldn't necessarily have given myself the best chance.
"This is the first time I've done it like this, so I'm obviously training and preparing as best I can for this stretch here and in Miami and then building up to the clay court season because it's obviously an extremely physical part of the year for me.
"So getting that training block done now will hopefully help me during the clay as well."
The one time Murray did not reach the final in Melbourne was last year, when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.
Michael Penkman
