Monday 2 February 2015 07:02, UK
Andy Murray says he was thrown off his game by Novak Djokovic's early injury breaks in the Australian Open final.
The third set was frustrating because I got a bit distracted when he fell on the ground after a couple of shots.
The British No 1 fell to his fourth Melbourne Park final defeat as Djokovic outlasted him for a 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-0 victory on Sunday.
Djokovic's fifth Australian Open title - overtaking Roy Emerson's record for the Open era - was not always assured, as the Serb struggled with thumb and ankle injuries, which Murray insists were distracting.
"The third set was frustrating because I got a bit distracted when he fell on the ground after a couple of shots," Murray said.
"It appeared that he was cramping, and then I let that distract me a little bit.
"So yes, I'm frustrated at myself for letting that bother me at the beginning of the third set, because I was playing well, I had good momentum, and then just dropped off for 10 minutes and it got away from me."
The Scot made a point of not accusing Djokovic of faking his physical issues to win mind games on the court.
"I mean, it's obviously what he thinks," he continued. "I would hope that that wouldn't be the case. I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea.
"But if it was cramp, how he recovered from it, that's a tough thing to recover from and play as well as he did at the end."
Day and night
Murray, who was the sixth seed heading into the Australian Open, believes he can see the positives of his encouraging performances after a below-par 2014.
"It's been a great couple of weeks compared with where I was a couple of months ago," said Murray, whose coaching by Amelie Mauresmo is now paying dividends.
"It's like night and day really. I'm playing way better in almost every part of my game. Moving better. Physically, I feel better, more confident, more belief.
"Mentally I felt much, much stronger than I did at the end of last year and during the majors last year.
"So for me, there are a lot of positives. Novak has won five times here now. There's no disgrace, obviously, in losing to him."
