Murray still believes but Nadal wrecks slam dreams yet again

For the third major in a row the world No 4 lost to his Spanish nemesis in the semi-finals to ensure his search for one of the sport’s four biggest trophies goes on.

It was another courageous effort from Murray, who became the first player this tournament to take a set off Nadal, but it was not enough as the defending champion responded to triumph 6-4 6-2 3-6 6-2.

The Scot has now lost 13 of his 17 meetings with the man from Majorca, including the last five.

It was the third time Murray had lost to Nadal in Grand Slam semi-finals this year alone, with the Spaniard also coming out on top at the French and at Wimbledon.

Indeed, Murray has only won two sets in those three matches and accepts he is playing against someone very special.

“It’s always tough playing Nadal who, in my opinion, is the greatest player to play tennis,” said the Scot. “I was disappointed with the first two sets but the third and fourth were better. I know the right tactics for playing against Rafa but I didn’t implement them in the first two sets.

“It’s very easy from the side to suggest what I should be doing out there – you should see some of his passing shots. There’s many things I could have done a bit better but I didn’t.”

But Murray is still confident that he can beat the Spaniard and cited wins at the US Open in 2008 and the Australian Open in 2010 as evidence Nadal does not have a psychological hold over him.

“I have beaten him before twice, so, no, it’s not the belief that’s the problem. I just need to play the right way,” he said. “I feel like on the hard courts is my best match-up against him. On the grass I definitely need to improve, and on the clay I definitely need to improve a lot to win against him. But I don’t feel like I’m far off on the hard courts.”

Murray felt he had been too aggressive after his four-set loss at Wimbledon in July and it was a similar story on Saturday for two sets as the fourth seed committed too many errors. The 24-year-old was certainly not helped by the rain-affected schedule, which forced both men to play three matches in three days. But, while Nadal had had an easy win over Andy Roddick on Friday, Murray took more than three hours to beat John Isner.

“I’ve got to improve,” Murray added. “I need to work on my game and get physically stronger. If you play the right way against Nadal you can make him do the running and dictate play.

“But I didn’t do that in the first two sets.

“When you’ve played a long match the day before, you need to get the balance right. Anyone playing Rafa, you’re going to play a lot of long rallies. So, if you can get some opportunities to try to shorten the points, then it would be good to do that.

“Once I went behind, I realised that wasn’t working. And then the third and fourth sets I started being more patient and started picking the right moments to come forward.”

Saturday’s semi-finals, the first of which featured an incredible comeback from Novak Djokovic to beat Roger Federer over five sets, only served to illustrate what an incredibly tough task it will be for Murray to go on and actually win a major tournament.

The Scot, who has reached the semi-finals of all four grand slams this year, does not believe his record in such tournaments alone, will be the thing that defines him.

“It’s something I want to try and achieve but, if you want to judge someone’s whole career based purely on slams, I would have had a terrible career.

“But I don’t really feel like I have. There have been other things I’ve done well, and I’ve still got, hopefully, three or four more years where I’m playing at my peak.

“I need to stay healthy and improve, because if I don’t then it’s going to be difficult to win one. But if I do, then I’m getting a little bit closer each year.

“This year was the best year for me in the slams.”

Nadal, pictured right, and Murray are good friends and the Spaniard feels his rival has been unfortunate not to win a slam yet.

“When you are in semi-finals, when you are winning Masters 1000, the normal thing is to win grand slams,” said Nadal. “So he’s having a little bit of bad luck in these kind of matches.

“I played a very, very good match, my best match here. That’s a little bit unlucky, too, because he’s ready to do it.

“I think if one player deserves to win a grand slam, Andy is the one.

“I seriously believe he’s going to do it, and I really wish him all the best, because I really want to see him win a grand slam.”

Murray now heads back home to Scotland to link up again with the Great Britain Davis Cup team ahead of next weekend’s Europe/Africa Zone promotion play-off against the Hungarians after confirming his hectic schedule has not put his participation in the event in jeopardy.