There were lots of reasons for the top men's players at Wimbledon to take heart, even if it was only Novak Djokovic who stood as the winner on Sunday evening.
Djokovic had improved his poor record in major finals, Roger Federer had reached his first grand slam final in two years, Rafael Nadal had his best performance at the All England Club in three years – despite being upset by a player outside the top 100 – and Stan Wawrinka also had his best showing at the tournament.
The odd man out was Andy Murray, who surrendered his title in meek fashion in the quarter-finals to Grigor Dimitrov and is now No 10 in the new ATP rankings, his worst position since July 2008.
Murray is at a crossroads at the age of 27, and how he responds to the setback in the next few months will reveal much about where his career is heading.
Since he won Wimbledon 12 months ago to end Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s singles champion, he has not won or reached a final, such has been his barren run.
There is some mitigation in that he missed the last three months of the 2013 season because of an operation on his lower back, which also hampered his preparations for 2014.
There has also been the change of coach, with Ivan Lendl, the man credited with giving Murray the focus to become a grand slam title winner, leaving to be replaced by Amelie Mauresmo.
It is too early in their new working relationship to assess how Mauresmo and Murray will work as a unit. But the lack of intensity and fight in his straight sets loss to Dimitrov is what has set the alarm bells ringing.
Winning Wimbledon had been the be all and end all for the Briton, his tears after losing the 2012 final to Federer demonstrating that. But, two sets down to Dimitrov, he effectively threw in the towel as he was broken twice in a one-sided third set.
There was none of the aggression or fight that he had demonstrated 12 months earlier, when he had come from two sets down against Fernando Verdasco in the last eight, and then from losing the first set to Jerzy Janowicz in the semi-final.
The warning signs were there, in hindsight, in how he had been knocked out at Queens, the warm-up event for Wimbledon, by journeyman pro Radek Stepanek, again in straight sets.
The good news for Murray is that he does not have much in the way of rankings points to defend before next month’s US Open.
A last-16 exit in Montreal and a run to the quarter-finals in Cincinnati are all the work he did after Wimbledon last year, so if – and this is the big point – he can find some form, there is a good chance he should be back in the top eight by the time the tour arrives in New York.
Murray has already cemented his legacy in his own country thanks to his two major championships, but to be a great in the game he needs to win more.
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have not settled for two. They got the taste for success and they kept on claiming titles.
Murray can still do that. He has the game, when at his best, to match the top players, but for the last year he has not produced it, as is shown by the results.
The next few months will tell us if he can bounce back and be a contender again, or if the Wimbledon 2013 title was the peak before the terminal decline started.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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