Murray can sleep off final frustration

Murray was well beaten by Novak Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday, the Serbian winning 6-4 6-2 6-3 as Britain’s 75-year wait for a male grand slam singles champion continued.

While the Scot vowed to get back on the practice court in a bid to close the gap on Djokovic, as well as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, he insisted there was more to life than winning tennis tournaments.

“I am going to keep working hard to try to improve my game,” he said. “But as I said before the final, it’s not something that I lose sleep over at night.

“Sure it’s going to be tough for a few days and I want to win one of course. But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.

“I am working as hard as I can. I train very hard and I take tennis very seriously. But I also love my life away from tennis as well.

“And compared to last year (when he lost to Federer in the 2010 Australian Open final), I am very, very happy off the court. I am enjoying myself and there are other things to look forward to.”

Murray’s immediate plans remain sketchy.

“I’ll see what I do from here,” he added. “I don’t know, I might not play tennis for a few months or I might feel like playing in a week’s time. It depends on how I feel.”

Although his run in Melbourne ended in disappointment, Murray can look back on another successful fortnight as he started 2011 in encouraging fashion.

“If I look at the tournament as a whole it was excellent,” he said. “I don’t think anyone would say that reaching a slam final is a bad achievement, it’s a very, very good achievement. There is disappointment because I lost the match but I am happy with the way the tournament went. Obviously I would liked to have gone one step further.”

Djokovic, who has known Murray since the pair were in their early teens, feels the Scot is destined to win a grand slam one day.