I know. It’s tough to take, isn’t it?

How can this possibly have happened to the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the hero of the historic Davis Cup victory, the runner-up in this year’s Australian Open?

Is British tennis at a crossroads? No it isn’t. So to return to the question of why Murray isn’t always winning - how can this possibly have happened? Etc.

Well, it’s all the child’s fault, isn’t it? Little Sophia, lying oh so innocently in her cot, secretly wrecking her father’s chances with her frankly selfish demands.

This, at least, is the broad view taken by former British number one Annabel Croft, who told the BBC that Murray is looking “tired and emotionally drained”, adding: “Life has just changed for him and he's just trying to regain momentum, but at the moment it's a bit of struggle…”

Sky News, meanwhile, has had a psychologist on discussing whether "fatherhood is affecting Andy Murray's focus".

Croft added: "I know he had his family over in Miami. Having had three children myself, you know that if there's a baby in the house you can't get away from it and if it's crying at night, your sleep is going to be a little bit disrupted.

"He's probably a little bit more drained in every area and suddenly there's a lot more to think of off the court. So, I definitely think it's affected him."

I wonder...

Weird. Grigor’s racket looks just like Sophia’s rattle. Oh. “15-love.” OK, OK, concentrate Andy…concentrate…still think the light in her room is too bright, though. Maybe we should put in a dimmer switch.. “30-love.” Come on! Focus! You need to break back here….OMG!! Her hat! I think I left it in the car!! “40-love.” Right. Right. Let it go…OK…OK…now visualise this return…

“Come ON Andy!!” Right there, Kim! Sorry!! Oh, it wasn’t... “Game Dmitrov. Change the nappies please…”. Kim calling of course. It was one of my increasingly worried fans…

Yes, it’s all a bit of a post-natal nightmare for Murray right now. Or is it?

An article on the vexed topic of Murray the Beleaguered Dad appeared in the Daily Telegraph this week and although some of its rhetorical flourishes, such as “I am Andy Murray” got a bit of a mullering on social media, I think the basic premise put forward by a similarly new dad is sound. That is, once you have a baby*, work becomes your downtime.

(*Phrase used by men, even though they don’t actually have the babies themselves.)

Having had three babies myself – see note above – I can vouch for the fact that work does become a rather shameful but nevertheless blessed escape route from the disturbing business of being a responsible, required adult. It’s all right in bursts. It’s just having to be it all the time until your child is old enough to tell you that he/she doesn’t necessarily want to spend Christmas with you this year…that’s the strain of it.

But where this argument falls to the ground in Murray’s case is that, if true, he should be flying around the court like an uncaged bird. Instead of which he appears to be moping on his perch.

Maybe it’s all down to the domestic arrangements. After all, Roger Federer has got twin twins, and he doesn’t seem to have been overly hampered by the little newcomers. Identical daughters Myla Rose and Charlene Riva arrived for him and his wife Mirka in July 2009, shortly after he had completed his career Grand Prix by winning the French Open and then regained the Wimbledon title.

Did Dad lose his way on court? Well no. Dad started the following year by winning his fourth Australian Open title. In 2011 he won his sixth World Tour Finals title, and he added another Wimbledon title in 2012. In May 2014, Leo and Lenny arrived in the family circle. Within six months, Daddy – who had announced in the aftermath of the new arrivals that it was “the best time in his life” - had clinched the Davis Cup for Switzerland.

What lay behind this Swiss serenity? Well, he was only a few weeks away from moving into his multi-million dollar residence overlooking Lake Zurich - a mighty modern edifice which is split in two, enabling his parents to live "next door". The ultimate support team on call…

Of course, in the end, the Murrays will follow their own path of parenthood. Whatever he and his wife decide upon, however, the 28-year-old Scot would be well advised to address Sophia’s bath-time with especial care given the incident Federer confessed to on the eve of the Miami Open – his planned comeback tournament after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on February 3. It was, he announced somewhat sheepishly, an injury caused by slipping while running a bath for his two daughters..

Maybe, on balance, both Murray and Federer could take lessons from the current men’s number one, Novak Djokovic, on the subject of How Not To Let Your Children Affect Your  Career. Djokovic’s wife Jelena gave birth to a son, Stefan, in October 2014. The following year he won all four Grand Slams…