Were British expectations again too much pressure for Andy Murray to deal with at this year’s Wimbledon? Well, to be honest Murray was just outclassed by his Spanish rival Rafael Nadal.

The Scot could not cope with the power and quick thinking of the world No.2 and was probably mentally sapped from his epic match with France’s Richard Gasquet in the previous round.

However, Murray’s exploits at Wimbledon will see the young Brit enter the world’s top 10 once again - probably at No.9, and this is certain to give him great encouragement for the US hard-court and indoor seasons for the remainder of the year.

Murray is comfortable on both surfaces and is even a former junior US Open champion, showing his liking for the fast bouncy courts. With a top-10 ranking, he should be able to avoid the top seeds until the later rounds of each tournament and continue to rake in the points to push his ranking even higher up the ATP chart.

He had a poor hard-court season last year after coming back from injury, only reaching the second round in the Masters Series in Toronto, first round in the Masters event in Cincinnati and a third-round appearance in the US Open. Improvements in all these tournaments this year, plus a good result at the Olympic Games, will put the British No.1 within touching distance of the likes of Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Roddick, lurking around the top five in the world. He has points to defend on the carpet with a win in St Petersburg and a final appearance in Metz last year - but by that time Murray should be full of confidence.

The other good thing about Murray is that during Wimbledon he looked fitter than ever. His new fitness coaches look to have been working their magic with Andy and even in the five-set marathon against Gasquet, he still looked like he could have played a couple more sets. That’s a major difference from two years ago, when he looked weary after only three sets.