Proud Murray to take break after forcing the best from Federer

The 22-year-old reached the second slam final of his career, but came up short against the world No 1 Roger Federer in a

6-3 6-4 7-6 (13/11) defeat under the Rod Laver Arena lights.

It was a scoreline that betrayed an otherwise impressive tournament for the Scot who had lost just one set, and ousted defending champion Rafael Nadal, en route to the final.

Murray had coasted through the draw with a blend of endeavour and some stunning strokeplay, but was made to pay for a timid start to the final against classy Federer.

It was an initially dispiriting loss for the British No 1 and he showed the emotion of defeat in a tearful post-match speech.

Murray, who has climbed to third in the world rankings after reaching the final, is now looking forward to getting away from the spotlight and reflecting on his Australian summer.

The Scot is not due to return to the ATP Tour until the Marseille Open on February 15.

"I'll take some time off now and rest and see what I want to do in terms of my game, what my priorities are going to be," he said. "Obviously it's pretty quick after the match to know exactly how my game is going to feel or what this does for me.

"But obviously getting to a second slam final, it's a great achievement. So I've got to be proud of that."

While Murray's quest for a maiden grand slam title will have to wait a little longer his conqueror believes it is only a matter of time before he claims his breakthrough success.

Victory saw Federer claim his 16th grand slam title, his fourth at Melbourne Park.

The 28-year-old Swiss believes, however, that his hopes of adding to his record haul are under threat from a younger generation of players such as Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro.

Del Potro beat Federer in five sets to claim his maiden major success at last year's US Open and with the young guns closing in the Swiss savoured his win over Murray, and even described it as one of the best of his career.

"I feel like I'm being pushed a great deal by the new generation coming up," Federer said.

"I always feel tennis changes every five years because when I came on tour, matches were played very differently.

"It was more of a bluff game, guys serving well, but there was always a weakness you could go to. Today that doesn't exist anymore. I think that's also thanks to guys like Murray, they've made me a better player.

"Because of that I think this has been one of my finest performances in a long time, or maybe forever."

Novak Djokovic, who crashed out against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight at Melbourne Park, is up to No 2 in the world, although Murray, on 7,800 points, is just 510 points adrift of the Serbian.

Former world No 1 Nadal is down to fourth position.