Murray: "I'm Proud Of The Way I Fought"

© Getty ImagesAndy Murray was looking to reach his third straight Australian Open final.

At the Australian Open in 2011, Andy Murray reached his second final in a row at Melbourne Park, only to be upstaged by Novak Djokovic, who denied the Scot his first Grand Slam title in a convincing straight sets win.

On Friday, the two squared off in the semi-finals in a match completely different to last year’s final, battling it out for four hours and 50 minutes before the World No. 1 Djokovic emerged as the winner, taking the clash 6-3, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-1, 7-5. Though he lost to the Serbian, Murray was pleased with his efforts against the defending champion. “It was tough at the end 'cause obviously you come back, then you get close to breaking. To lose, yeah, it's tough,” said Murray. “But [I’m] a different player, [with] a different attitude to this time last year. I'm proud of the way I fought.

"Everybody matures at different ages and different rates. I feel now, I'm ready mentally. Physically I can still get better, for sure. But in comparison to how I played last year, it was much, much better.”

Murray employed an alternative strategy this time around, playing with far more aggression and less margin for error. “Everyone always says to me, Andy's too passive; he doesn't go for his shots enough. I think tonight I did that,” assessed Murray. "I probably made more mistakes than him, but I'm quite sure I hit more winners. I think through like three sets he only hit 14, 15 winners. I was moving well and dictating a lot of the points, which is important.”

While he was disappointed with the defeat, Murray said, “Sometimes you come off the court and you've played really badly, you haven't quite been there mentally, and then you're really disappointed with yourself 'cause you've let yourself down. I don't feel like I've let myself down today.

“I've lost a lot of tough matches that I've learnt to deal with them better. I bounced back well from most of the tough matches that I lost last year. Obviously not after the Australian Open, but after Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open, I did well. Hopefully that will be the same again.”

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