Murray's dream dies but he will have his day

Rafael Nadal consoles Andy Murray after his four set victory

So that's it. Andy Murray's Wimbledon dream will have to wait another year after he was treated a very harsh lesson in ball striking by the peerless Rafael Nadal.

It all started well for Murray, winning the opening set and making inroads on Nadal's serve early in the second, but once the Spaniard got a foothold in the match there was simply no stopping him. The man is a machine.

Murray knew he had to be aggressive and start the match in great form, and did just that by winning the opening set.

He was actually out-hitting Nadal for that first set, but it was always going to be difficult to maintain that standard and once Nadal truly found his feet, the errors started to come from Murray's racquet.

Murray made a lot of uncharacteristic errors in the match from that first set onwards and that was largely due to the pressure Nadal was putting on him.

The key moment in the match came early in the second set, when Murray missed an easy forehand which would have given him two break points, with the miss seemingly shattering Murray's confidence and from then on he wasn't in the match.

Murray's game was clearly affected by the miss

Nadal was reinvigorated by the miss, as it gave him the belief no point was lost until the final shot was played.

Murray's serve then abandoned him - after he had served excellently for a set and a half - and Nadal simply closed the door on his chances.

Undoubtedly, the Spaniard beat him by playing excellent tennis but it was also Murray's mental state which cost him.

Against the likes of Nadal, you need to be switched on for every point and forget about the last point immediately, but Murray was clearly affected by the miss and never truly recovered.

Nadal's game reached another level after losing the first set

You could sense Nadal closing the door and the fact he made just seven unforced errors in the match tells its own story. Murray made 39 unforced errors in the match due to the high-risk strategy he took, but perhaps he went for his shots a little too much this time.

Last year he was too passive, this year he was too aggressive. As difficult as it may seem, he needs to strike a good balance to stand any chance of taking three sets from Nadal in this form.

Nadal simply refused to miss and played some stunning forehands to leave Murray running all over the court and losing energy in the process.

It must be so exhausting to play Nadal, both physically and mentally, as on one hand you have to work hard for every point with lots of running and on the other hand you know you are going to have to pull off a stunning shot for every point you win.

He is simply relentless and he gets balls back which no other player could, always forcing his opponent to play an extra shot to truly earn every point.

Nadal's serve is not always a potent weapon but he used it to great effect against Murray, rarely giving him a look-in on his serve.

Nadal's variation made it very difficult for Murray to get back in the match

Every shot Nadal played seemed to be with great accuracy and stunning power, so even if Murray had kept up his form from the first set it would still have been a monumental task for him to win. Nadal is simply too good with his variations between hitting the ball with ferocity and spinning the ball, as well as his consistency in never missing a shot.

It must be soul-destroying playing Nadal and he is now well on the way to becoming one of the best players in history, already with 10 Grand Slam titles to his name and now with a fantastic opportunity for number 11.

Murray ended up missing balls he never would under normal circumstances and that was largely because he knew who was on the other side of the net. A man who simply doesn't miss.

You have to play out of your skin just to take a set off him and Murray did that, but inevitably he couldn't keep that standard up.

But we mustn't go overboard in criticising Murray.

Every era in tennis is difficult, but this one contains possibly the two best players of all-time and another amazing player in Novak Djokovic.

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have won 28 Grand Slam titles between them

Murray is extremely unlucky to be around at the same time Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic are at their peak as he simply isn't as good as them. But then again, who in history was better than them?

Murray is the best British player in a long, long time - possibly since Fred Perry - and everyone should rally behind him as Britain has not been as close as this to having a Grand Slam winner since Perry won Wimbledon and the US Open in 1936.

Andy Murray is not a failure. He is not a terrible tennis player. He just has three world-class players who are better than him.

We should be grateful to have him as without Murray, what other British interest would there be? None.

People should stop looking for the first excuse to knock him down because if he keeps going the way he is going, one day he will win a Grand Slam and the critics will be shut up once and for all.

Murray knows he is under pressure to deliver a Grand Slam soon

He is unlucky he keeps coming up against legends of the game on the top of their form in major championships, but there is bound to be a Grand Slam in the not too distant future where those legends are not on the top of their form. That will be Murray's big chance.

He can still be proud of another great effort at Wimbledon this year - reaching the semi-final for the third year in a row - and he knows he is closer now than he ever has been.

Murray will naturally be very disappointed he has missed out again, but there are a number of factors which should console him.

The first is that it was Nadal who beat him, not some journeyman way down the rankings but a true legend of the game.

The second is that he was closer to beating the Spaniard than last year, employing a better gameplan and winning a set this time.

The third is that grass is not his favourite surface and his best chance of winning a Grand Slam will come on the hard courts of America and Australia.

It must be remembered that tennis is not just about Wimbledon - although it seems to be to some in this country - and Murray's achievements in reaching three Grand Slam finals elsewhere should not be overlooked.

Murray has reached the Australian Open final twice and US Open final once

Winning a major must not become an obsession as if things are allowed to take their natural course then Murray should be a certainty to win a major in the future.

He is a great player - a fantastic player - and as long as he keeps working hard and chipping away, his day of destiny will eventually come.

Nadal knows all about Murray's quality as the Scotsman has beaten him twice in Grand Slams, and Nadal's respect for him shows Murray is certainly on the right track.

Having said that, Nadal has the utmost respect for every opponent - he is a great and gracious sportsman - and is good friends with Murray, but you sense his respect is echoed by most other tour players. They all know how good Murray is and that it should be just a matter of time before he wins a Grand Slam.

The hard facts are that Murray has lost another semi-final but he was certainly not disgraced and was simply beaten by the better player.

It is an extremely difficult task to win a Grand Slam but Murray has been close to it on many occasions and will be again.

Doubts will always remain until he wins a Grand Slam but one day he will do it.

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Novak Djokovic could not hide his delight at reaching his first Wimbledon final

Nadal will play Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final in a battle between the number one and two players in the world.

They are undoubtedly the best two players on the planet at the moment and whatever the result, Djokovic will replace Nadal at the top of the rankings due to his excellent form this year which has seen him lose just one match.

Djokovic reached his first Wimbledon final with an emotional victory against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Tsonga produced nowhere near the level of performance which saw him beat Roger Federer in the last round but he posed considerable problems for the Serbian, who had to produce some of his best tennis to prevail.

Djokovic returned brilliantly to truly flatten Tsonga, whose serve had been the key reason he made it to the semi-finals.

Like Nadal, Djokovic never admits defeat in a rally until the final shot is played and Tsonga had no answer at times to his brilliance.

Tsonga could only produce flashes of the form which saw him beat Federer

It seemed that the five-set win over Federer had taken too much energy out of the Frenchman and he lacked the intensity needed to give him a chance, with a number of errors seeing the match drift away from him.

In the third set though, nerves got the better of Djokovic and that allowed Tsonga back in.

The Serbian had been a break up but seemingly started to feel the pressure of reaching his first Wimbledon final and taking the number one ranking. He started bouncing the ball before serving a lot more and made some sloppy errors, handing Tsonga a route back into the match.

That's when both men fell apart.

At 5-5, Djokovic broke Tsonga to give him a chance of serving for the match, only for Tsonga to break straight back and force a tie-break.

Djokovic battled hard in the tie-break but Tsonga saved two match points and won it to force a fourth set.

However, the Serbian never seemed in any real danger of losing the match and broke early in the fourth before serving the set out excellently, 6-3, to take the match and a place in the final.

There is so much to like about Djokovic but one thing to dislike about him is his support group.

They have to be the most annoying in tennis as they take their support for Djokovic much too far.

Djokovic's family have often been accused of taking their support for him too far

They are his family, of course, and must encourage him throughout, but the way they jump up after every point in unison just gets a tad tedious at times.

They have upset opposition players in the past by calling out during rallies and it is easy to see why some players dislike them as they seemingly show disrespect to opponents.

This should be all about Djokovic but his family make it seem all about them, as they proved in their celebrations at the end of this match where they celebrated together without even looking up at Djokovic.

They were celebrating as though he had already won the tournament but there is still an extremely difficult match to come against the best of them all.

Rafael Nadal will be replaced as number one by Djokovic on Monday whatever the result but the number one ranking will mean very little to the Serbian if he does not win the Wimbledon final.

Nadal beat Djokovic in last year's US Open final

Most tennis fans will see the winner of this match as the real number one and that adds a little extra incentive to both players.

Nadal will want to prove that he is still the best player while Djokovic will want to show everyone just why he is at the top of the rankings and it should be a classic game.

Both have come into form at just the right time at these championships and it should be a match of the highest quality.

Nadal has not lost at Wimbledon since 2007 though so it is going to be a monumental task for Djokovic.

It will be a hard-fought match but Nadal should win, in four or possibly five sets.