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Andy Murray - Source: Reuters
Andy Murray is the best British tennis player in three quarters of a century, the undisputed number four in the world and has reached three grand slam finals yet he is still considered something of a failure by Britain's sporting public.
British tennis players are judged almost entirely on what they do at Wimbledon and though Murray is held in the highest regard by his peers, his third successive semi-final defeat in his home tournament today will ensure he is widely written off again as a "nearly man."
It was all looking so different when, playing with verve, ambition and bravery, he took the first set off holder, number one seed and hot favourite Rafa Nadal.
But the Spaniard, who also beat him last year following Murray's last-four loss to Andy Roddick in 2009, fought back magnificently to triumph 5-7 6-2 6-2 6-4 against a man he later described as "the best player I have ever played not to win a grand slam."
True, Murray contributed to his own downfall with a succession of errors but they were often brought about by the pressure built up by Nadal's relentless accuracy.
"Even when he's not hitting the ball unbelievable from the middle of the court, he gets to a lot of balls, he makes you play an extra ball all the time," Murray said of his conqueror.
"And eventually today, when I started making mistakes, he raised his game and started playing better and capitalised on it.
"I was still going for my shots but once he started hitting his backhand better, naturally I wasn't going to be able to play right next to the baseline like I was in the first set...but I thought for the most part I was trying to dictate the play.
"Sometimes I've come off the court and thought maybe I should have taken a few more chances but today it was the other way -- I went for it and started making mistakes. It was good for a set and a little bit, then went the other way."
CONTINUAL DISAPPOINTMENTS
Murray's disappointment followed his semi-final defeat in the French Open last month -- also against Nadal -- and his straight-sets defeat by Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final. He has reached seven grand slam semi-finals, one more than Tim Henman, and won three of them, three more than Henman.
"It's tough," he said of the continual disappointments. "But I'm giving it my best shot each time. I'm trying my hardest and that's all you can do.
"I'm disappointed but normally, like after four or five days, bar after Australia, in the last couple years I've recovered relatively quickly from losing because I'm just trying to get better.
"I feel like I'm playing better tennis than I was last year at this point. It's been a good tournament."
So, while Nadal prepares to face Djokovic in Monday's final, Murray will return to the practice courts.
"I'll go away now and work harder than I ever did before," he said. "Try and improve my game and get stronger, try to learn from what happened today.
"It's a very tough era in tennis, right at the top of the game it's exceptional. So not only to get level with those guys, but to push past them, you need to work harder than them.
"I need to work two, three percent harder than I do just now and push myself to be the best athlete that I can be.
"Every week, every month you learn something new in your training, in your matches, in practice, your diet, the gym, the training that you do. I just need to try and get better."
