Upbeat Djokovic says he'll learn from lackluster loss

Novak Djokovic insists he will absorb the lessons of his painful Wimbledon final defeat against Andy Murray and come back stronger than ever.

Djokovic slumped to a lackluster 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 defeat at the All-England Club on Sunday as the world No 1 failed to recapture the dominant form that saw him sweep through to the final.

The 26-year-old has lost on the big occasion before - this was his fifth Grand Slam final defeat - but it was the way he allowed Murray to dictate the tempo that was surprising.

Djokovic claimed his first straight sets defeat in a Grand Slam since losing to Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon in 2010 was at least partly down to fatigue from his four hour, 43-minute semifinal victory over Juan Martin del Potro just 48 hours earlier.

But the Serb knew he could have no complaints about the result after making 40 unforced errors and he vowed to study the performance again in a bid to clean up his game in time for the US Open in August.

"I try to always analyze, especially the losses, because that's where you have done something wrong," Djokovic said.

"It's my life. You try to improve. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, I guess. I need to have that kind of mentality and move on.

"I'm still young and hopefully I have more opportunities to win this title."

Even without the aches and pains from the del Potro clash, Djokovic acknowledged it might still have been hard for him to stop a fired-up Murray from taking the title.

With the painful memories of last year's Wimbledon final loss to Roger Federer still fresh in his mind, Murray was on a mission to make amends and he played with a steely-eyed determination that Djokovic found impossible to match.

"I knew I had to be on top of my game in order to prevail in this match. He had a huge motivation to win his first title," Djokovic said.

"I wasn't patient enough in the moments when I should have been, when I should have looked for the better opportunity to attack, and my serve wasn't as good as it was the whole tournament.

"Every time it's tough when you're losing in the final. But hey, it's sport. It's the way it is."

Following Sunday's failure, he would have every reason to feel sorry for himself on the flight back to Monte Carlo, yet the 2011 Wimbledon champion said he took great pride in his second appearance in the final.

"I got to the final of Wimbledon, so I cannot be too disappointed with my overall performance," Djokovic said.

"It was a great tournament for me. I could have done better in the final but that's sport. You cannot win all the matches."

(China Daily 07/09/2013 page24)