Wimbledon 2010: Tim Henman on Andy Murray

Wimbledon Championships
Venue: All England Club, London Date: 21 June - 4 July
Coverage: Live on BBC One and Two, HD, Red Button, BBC Sport website (UK only), Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra; live text commentary online and on mobile phones. Full details of BBC coverage

Highlights - Nadal too strong for Murray (UK only)

By Tim Henman
Former British number one

Losing in the semi-finals of Wimbledon is a horrible experience and, regardless of any consolatory words, Andy Murray will be feeling pretty awful right now.

I've been there four times myself and after the match people tell you how well you performed, what a fantastic tournament you had and that you lost to a great player - but it's all meaningless.

If you're one of the world's best and you're competing in your home Grand Slam, you've got massive belief that you can win the title.

You deal with all the build-up, negotiate the first week and go deep into the second. You've gone from being one of 128 to being one of four, there's a lot of adrenaline and nervous energy, but then suddenly it's all over.

Deflated Murray still targets Grand Slam title

That really hits you hard and it's not something you can easily forget about. You're just so bitterly disappointed that your dream is over for another year and, in the coming days and weeks, Murray will be really low.

But he's got to pick himself up, get in the gym and work as hard as he can to develop his game.

On the day, Rafael Nadal was simply the better player and when push came to shove in the big moments, the Spaniard produced some absolutely phenomenal tennis.

He had one break point in first set and took it. Murray had a set point in the second set tie-break but squandered it. Nadal had one break-back point in the third and took it. Nadal had one match point and took it.

It was always going to boil down to a few key points and Nadal played them better. That's the sign of a great champion and that's why he's number one in the world. The rankings don't lie.

There were times when Murray hit some great shots and you thought he had Nadal on the defensive, but that's when he's so dangerous. Because he's so strong in his legs and core, he can turn defence into attack in the blink of an eye.

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At 2-0 down, Murray kept believing and to break serve early in the third set and try to mount a comeback was a great effort. And his numbers - especially the first-serve percentage - were phenomenal for much of the match.

But the stats can sometimes be a little bit dangerous because you'd much rather your first-serve percentage be lower in exchange for just one big first serve at 6-5 in the tie-break.

Murray has improved significantly over the last year or two - he's older, wiser, more mature and in the best shape of his life - but I still think sometimes he's a little bit too passive.

While he has the game to beat the likes of Nadal and Roger Federer, he must start playing more aggressively in the week-in-week-out tournaments so that, when it comes to a major, such aggression is second nature.

Murray didn't have the best of form coming into Wimbledon but still managed to reach the semi-finals, which is a magnificent achievement. He knows he can win this tournament one day and that's a massive motivating factor.

He thinks it's in his destiny to win Grand Slam titles and he doesn't just want to win one. He's knocking on the door and now it's for him to open it.

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Tim Henman was speaking to BBC Sport's David Ornstein. Henman is part of the BBC's commentary team for Wimbledon 2010.