Murray's rise may stop before he hits the top

THE most encouraging aspect – perhaps the only one – of Andy Murray's quarter-final defeat by Rafael Nadal on Wednesday was his refusal to be downhearted. The Scot had been outclassed in a straight-sets loss, but said he believed that with hard work he could close the gap on Nadal and Roger Federer, the two dominant figures in world tennis.

THE most encouraging aspect – perhaps the only one – of Andy Murray's quarter-final defeat by Rafael Nadal on Wednesday was his refusal to be downhearted. The Scot had been outclassed in a straight-sets loss, but said he believed that with hard work he could close the gap on Nadal and Roger Federer, the two dominant figures in world tennis.

Novak Djokovic, the No3, had a poor Wimbledon, but showed earlier this year that it is possibly to break away from the chasing pack and join the Spaniard and the Swiss at the top. Murray is among those trying to do the same, and, having already proven himself stronger and more durable this year than in the past, has grounds for thinking he can keep on getting better.

But can the improvement really be sustained to the extent that he can get the better of Nadal and Federer as well as of those around him at present? Or are there parts of his game which are unlikely ever to match them?

The 21-year-old understands that, rather than merely trying to deal with one or two obvious weak points, he needs an all-round improvement in his play if he is to get there.

"I have to view it as a good thing, to see that I can improve so many things in my game," Murray said. "It's up to me to make sure I go and do that. I have to look at my game, work on some things, and work even harder and try and get up to that level, which I do think is possible. It's just going to take a lot of hard work." Consistency is one element he has to work on. He can play better – and in particular serve better – than he did against Nadal, as he admitted. "I probably could have helped myself a little bit by timing some returns better and putting a high percentage of first serves in to give myself the chance to dictate early in the rallies.

"I need to make sure that when I'm playing the top guys I can dictate more of the rallies right from the start; you know, when I make a big first serve, really be aggressive from the first ball, rather than waiting a couple of shots. I mean, there are so many things that I can improve. Pretty much every part of my game, I think."

But while aspects such as his service can become better with hard work both in the gym and on the practice court, there are ways in which Murray will find it extremely difficult to catch up. One is his relative lack of speed compared to many of his rivals: he simply lacks the explosiveness and dynamism which the likes of Nadal and Richard Gasquet can boast.

"The chance to beat him is to try to play a little bit higher rhythm than him," as Nadal said. "You know, Andy is a very good player. And if you do not overcome his rhythm, it's very difficult to beat him."

By beating Gasquet, Murray showed that his tenacity can overcome a speedier player in the long run, provided he forces the match beyond three sets. But that fourth-round win also highlighted one of his other defects – namely, for all that he is tougher than before, he is still not strong enough to get back on court a couple of days after such a long contest and play to his best. In fact, as John McEnroe observed, Murray's body language against Nadal virtually advertised his fatigue. His head was down, his shoulders rolled, at times in reaction to losing some points.

A keen student of boxing, the Scot is able to play the old rope-a-dope trick and feign tiredness in order to lure his opponent into complacency. What he needs to do now is learn how to feign freshness rather than giving a morale boost to the man at the other side of the net by obviously looking fatigued.

But, while a little bit of method acting should help Murray learn how to do this, there are other parts of his game which cannot be so easily overcome. The lack of speed is one, for, while there are things you can do to get faster, there is a natural limit to how fast anyone can go. Sprinters are born, not made: they have the requisite number of twitch fibres in their muscles; others do not.

The Scot's desire to bulk up further is another part. He may be able to add the three kilos he wants to put on in addition to the three or four he acquired over the winter, but his relatively slender frame means he is never likely to match the awesome power of Nadal. After a certain point, adding more muscle to a lightish frame becomes counterproductive.

It may be Murray's bad fortune to be around at the same time as Nadal, who is just a year older. But in the long run it may turn out to be to his advantage that he cannot emulate the Majorcan's explosive power, for there is a serious risk that Nadal will not make it into his middle-thirties still playing tennis.

As Andre Agassi put it a while back: "He's writing cheques that his body can't cash." In short, Nadal's extraordinary exertions are as punishing to himself as they are to those he plays against, and they could lead to him burning out before the age of 30.

Murray can get better with hard work, and getting into the top five is in no way beyond him. The available evidence so far, however, suggests he could only get into the top two if one of the incumbents vacates his post, either voluntarily or because of injury.