He's toughened up. He's in form. Is this Andy Murray's moment?

Andy Murray poses for a fan’s camera after a practice session at Wimbledon. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Andy Murray might not be famous for his sense of humour, but everyone who knows him well says he has a dry, scabrous wit. He has a particular weakness for slapstick. With his support team – physio, trainers – he developed an elaborate system of forfeits for any lost wagers: going to dinner wearing a snorkel, for example, or sitting in an ice-bath fully naked. Murray himself once had to train for an entire week in a hot-pink shirt and shorts.

But Murray stopped doing the forfeits about a year ago, not long after the Czech player Ivan Lendl, a former world No 1, became his coach. "It was getting to the stage where they were becoming ridiculous," he said.

Murray is not in the Wimbledon final on Sunday afternoon because he has stopped messing around in practice with his support team. But a combination of factors – including his physical preparation, his work with Lendl, his increased comfort with crowd expectations – means that he is prepared as never before to go the distance at SW19. There is a growing sense that this is his moment.

"I've never seen Andy Murray look better than he does now," says Andrew Castle, who will commentate on the final for the BBC. "Two years ago, I sat in the commentary box at Wimbledon and said: 'The bottom line is that at the moment he's not as good as the opposition.' I took a lot of grief for that – it was only an honest observation – but now he is good enough. He's committed everything and he's at his peak right now."

Murray returns to the Wimbledon final 12 months after losing to Roger Federer, a more complete player and, from all available evidence, a happier person. A major part of that comes from his revenge victory over Federer in the gold-medal match at the 2012 Olympics and his subsequent success in the US Open, when he became the first British man since 1936 to win a grand slam singles competition. In the final of that tournament he defeated the relentless Novak Djokovic, his opponent on Sunday.

"I felt like I was letting people down when I didn't win a grand slam or when I lost in a final," said Murray before the tournament. "There seemed like a collective feeling of disappointment rather than pride. Now that I've done it, it feels like a weight has been lifted."

Wimbledon 2013 has certainly had a more relaxed, less neurotic atmosphere. In previous years, it has felt as if Murray has been on probation with the crowd, but now there is acceptance, admiration and affection. Much has been made of the tears Murray shed after the 2012 final – they "humanised Andy for the public and the press", according to actor Kevin Spacey – and he became emotional again as he spoke about his friend Ross Hutchins's battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma at Queen's Club last month. That the change has taken such extreme circumstances is regrettable, but there has been a discernible public shift.

"This has been a process, but without question people understand him now and they get where he's coming from," says Castle. "You don't have to like him necessarily, but if you don't know that this is an elite and excellent sports person then you're wrong. That's it, you are just wrong. The evidence is in front of your eyes and it's not just his success, it's the manner of it. The guy's class."

Murray, 26, is impressive in a lot of ways these days. In recent years he has sculpted his natural physique – scrawny, pasty – into something more superheroic – muscle-bound, still pasty. The six-pack is hard earned, the result of intense workouts with his physical trainers, Jez Green and Matt Little, especially in the off-season in Miami. He does pull-ups with 20kg of weight strapped to his wrists, 27 in a minute. He eats up to 6,000 calories a day, including up to 43 pieces of sushi in one sitting. The Wall Street Journal described him as an "exercise maniac".

The process continues. He is currently attempting a "body-fat challenge", with an aim to drop 3%-4% of his barely existent body fat by summer's end. His long-suffering crew have to do it, too – Team Murray is a collective endeavour – and forfeits have been reintroduced for this one: anyone who fails will have to shave their hair off.

As a player, working with Lendl has brought previously unimaginable consistency. Murray has reached the final of the last four grand-slam events he has contested. There was scepticism when he first teamed up with Lendl, most relating to the collective memory of the Czech in his playing days. He was not a fun-loving presence on court back then, his signature shot being a drilled forehand at his opponent's head when he dared to approach the net.

Lendl's demeanour has not outwardly brightened in the intervening decades, but he has brought a calm reassurance to the Murray corner. As with the forfeits, the aim is to avoid flying too high or sinking too low. The Scot was in danger of becoming known for truculent outbursts, and is now less prone to indulge in the histrionics that led Virginia Wade to say he acted like a "drama queen".

"There are plenty of times in an environment like the Centre Court where you can easily lose control," says Castle. "You can easily show imbalance, you can easily get cross or confused or upset. There are many ways you can fall off that narrow line, and he doesn't any more. Lendl has made a massive, massive difference."

When I canvassed opinion before last year's final, I was surprised to learn that about half the British fans I spoke to were rooting for Federer. This said something about the love that Wimbledon has for the Swiss, but it couldn't fail to be a comment on Murray as well.

This year it is different, and not just because he is facing a less beloved foe in Djokovic. Murray has changed. We have changed. He is ready.

David Cameron and Sean Connery will be among those watching the action. Despite fears that the so-called curse of Cameron might wreck Andy Murray's chances, Downing Street has confirmed that the prime minister is expected to attend the men's final .

In terms of celebrity support, Murray can expect the Centre Court crowd to be a mix of past champions and Hollywood stars. The biggest names in tennis – including five-times Wimbledon champion Björn Borg and Australian tennis great Rod Laver – are expected to attend, as are Billy Connolly and actor Kevin Spacey, who featured in a BBC documentary about the world No 2.

The players' box will host members of Team Murray including his mother Judy and girlfriend Kim Sears.

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