Andy Murray will keep improving despite loss in Australian Open

Murray can take heart from a first slam final in 18 months as proof his work with Amélie Mauresmo is bearing fruit

• Match report: Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray

In the end it was a bridge too far for Andy Murray in Melbourne – possibly even a bridge-and-a-half judging by that stroppily decelerating final set of the championship. And as ever with one of Britain’s most inexplicably under-cherished sporting stars there will be those who react as though personally let down by Murray’s inability to push world No1 Novak Djokovic to the very limits in losing 7–6, 6–7, 6–3, 6–0 in the final of the Australian Open.

Better surely to conclude that Murray had done enough just by walking out once again with a racket in his hand on the final Sunday. If this sounds a little too British, a little too Pimms-on-Henman hill, then it is sometimes necessary to keep a little perspective. There is no disgrace in losing to Djokovic. He is, by some distance, the most relentlessly creative, physically irrepressible player around. Sometimes all-time greats just need to be allowed to win like all-time greats.

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source Sport | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1zK4MWZ