Andy Murray has played down his chances of winning the Australian Open this year.

The British number one, who missed the majority of the last three months of 2013 after undergoing back surgery, has played in the Qatar Open and an exhibition match against Lleyton Hewitt among others.

"You never know," ESPN quotes him as saying. "I've done a lot of training the last few months; it's just I haven't played many matches.

"So, you know, if somehow I can work my way into the tournament, feel a little bit better every day, then I might start to raise those expectations.

"You can often wake up, no matter how much training you've done, often after the first match of the year, you might have been training for four weeks in December, you can wake up after playing the first match and feel terrible just because you're going that few per cent harder."

Murray will take on Go Soeda in the first round of the Australian Open that gets underway on Monday.