Serve and aggression are key...
Wednesday 22 June 2016 18:55, UK
Andy Murray suffered his eighth grand slam final defeat with a 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-4 loss to Novak Djokovic at the French Open on Sunday.
Five of those defeats have come at the hands of the world No 1, who completed his set of slam titles at Roland Garros.
Had he turned the tables on a player he has beaten just twice in the past 14 meetings, Murray would have become the first British man to win the French Open since Fred Perry in 1935.
The last of those rare Murray victories came in May's Italian Open final, also played on clay - a surface the Scot once mistrusted, but looks increasingly at ease on of late.
Murray, 29, will now prepare for next month's Wimbledon and another chance to set the record straight against the dominant Serb, but this time on a surface on which Djokovic has never beaten him.
Here, we pick out five areas where Murray will want to improve.
Djokovic is probably the best returner tennis has ever seen so free points are rare and priceless. Murray possesses a strong first serve and had used it effectively during the rest of the tournament, but he did not land it nearly often enough in the final.
Murray needed his first-serve percentage to be over 60 but instead, it only just crept above 50.
His second serve is better than it was, thanks in large part to a sliced serve, and there were times on Court Philippe Chatrier when he was hitting over 100 mph, whereas in the past it has dipped well below 80 mph.
However, it is still vulnerable in the big matches and he won only 22 of the 54 points when he missed his first delivery.
Any player who gets drawn into extended baseline rallies with Djokovic invariably ends up coming out second best. Murray's powers of defence are well known but too often he was playing from three metres behind the baseline, allowing Djokovic to dictate the points.
The Serbian rarely misses from that position, while it also meant Murray was expending a lot of energy.
In the first set, he was managing to get the first strike in more often than not - but he could not keep it up.
He must also look to attack Djokovic's second serve a lot more often. There were times, most notably during the first set, when Murray crept into mid-court in an attempt to send the ball back with interest and it worked well.
But he dropped off in the proceeding sets, and that allowed the top seed to dominate him rather than the other way around.
Murray should have had an advantage physically, given Djokovic had to play four days in a row because of the awful weather in Paris.
But that was more than cancelled out by the fact the Scot had spent nearly five hours longer getting to the final, including two five-set thrillers in his opening two rounds against veteran Czech Radek Stepanek and then French wildcard Mathias Bourgue.
Surviving rollercoasters has become a Murray trademark but the likes of Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal rarely play five-setters in the early rounds and they reap the benefits later.
Djokovic is playing at such a high level that any slight advantage has to be held onto like glue.
In the Australian Open final last year, Murray appeared the stronger at the start of the third set and looked the dominator but could not capitalise, and here he had a break point at the start of the second set when Djokovic was still playing with a lot of tension, but did not take his opportunity.
It may not have made any difference to the final result, but Djokovic certainly needs no help and Murray must not give him any.
Murray has a lot more natural variety in his game than Djokovic and he used it to great effect when he beat the Serb in the final of the Rome Masters tournament just before the French Open.
His sliced backhand in defensive and offensive mode was equally impressive during the opening set at Roland Garros.
But Murray was pushed back far too often this time and he was simply unable to create enough angles on his groundstrokes to manoeuvre Djokovic out of his comfort zone.
"The best players control points," Murray said in his post-match interview. "That's tough and I wasn't able to dictate enough points after the beginning of the match."
Murray threw in a few drop shots but not enough to disrupt Djokovic's rhythm and his forays to the net were not nearly as successful as those of his opponent. Making Djokovic uncomfortable around the court is vital in order to beating him.
If Murray meets Djokovic in the Wimbledon final, can he win? Let us know your thoughts by tweeting @SkySportsTennis or by using the comments box below - sign in with Facebook.
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