What can Andy Murray do?

KEEP BELIEVING

Anyone who saw Murray’s emotional reaction to losing will understand how hard it must be for the 25-year-old to keep picking himself up off the floor after such defeats. He would not be human if he did not start to wonder whether it will ever happen. But what Murray must take out of yesterday is that, for the first time in a slam final, he was close to winning it. Had he taken the second set, which he was only a couple of points from doing, he may well have woken up yesterday as Wimbledon champion. Murray took the fight to Federer, playing positive tennis at a high level throughout the match, and he lost because probably the best player of all time played a brilliant match. In the last two seasons, he has reached two slam finals, four semi-finals and one quarter-final. He has to keep putting himself in those situations and trust that his time will come.

HAVE A BIT OF LUCK

Murray is frequently asked whether it is a privilege or a curse to be playing in the same era as Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The answer is surely a bit of both. He is a better player because of the competition, but at the moment he remains a step behind those three. There is certainly no disgrace in that but it does mean, if everything goes to form, he will not win the biggest titles. The top trio have won 29 of the last 30 slam titles between them – unprecedented domination – with only Juan Martin del Potro breaking the sequence at the US Open in 2009. Murray got a slice of luck with Nadal losing early this time and therefore not blocking his path to the final, although that was the only fortune the Scot enjoyed in an extremely tough draw.

CONTINUE TO IMPROVE

There were some notable improvements in Murray’s game at Wimbledon. He hit his forehand flatter and harder than before while his serve was probably the key shot on his run to the final. He found big serves when he needed them against David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga while his second serve was no longer a weakness. Sunday’s statistics could have been better, though. Murray made only 56 per cent of his first serves compared to Federer’s 69 per cent and won less than half his points on his second serve. But one very noticeable thing was how calm Murray stayed emotionally during matches. He is heading in the right direction.