Andy Murray has said that he will take a lot of positives from his performances at the Australian Open, despite losing to Novak Djokovic in the final.
The British number one went down 7-6[5] 6-7[4] 6-3 6-0 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne as Djokovic stormed to the fifth Aussie Open title of his career.
It was the third time that Murray had been beaten by Djokovic in the final of the event, but he insists that the tournament had been a positive experience for him overall.
"There's been a great couple of weeks compared with where I was a couple of months ago," Murray told reporters. "It's like night and day really. Playing way, way better in almost every part of my game. Moving better. Physically I feel better, more confident, more belief.
"I was a lot calmer, like, before my matches. Mentally I felt much, much stronger than I did at the end of last year and during the majors really last year. So, yeah, for me, I mean, a lot of positives. I wouldn't want to come away from here feeling negative about the way that I played or reaching a slam final.
"Novak has won five times here now. There's no disgrace obviously in losing to him. So, yeah, a lot of positives for me to take from it."
The defeat means that Murray is the first player in the Open Era to finish as runner-up four times at the Australian Open.
Barney Corkhill
