Barry Cowan says Andy Murray should use his Australian Open final loss as a springboard to greater things.
The next four months are massive for Andy Murray.
Despite losing to Roger Federer in the Australian Open final, Britain's No 1 can carry plenty of momentum towards May's French Open after his strong showing in Melbourne.
Here we have a guy capable of reaching a Grand Slam final but to do so consistently he must continue the more aggressive approach in his game that worked so well in Australia.
Murray still has areas that he can fine-tune to become even better. I find that encouraging, to say the least. The 22-year-old has long since proved he doesn't have any major weaknesses in his game but he can improve areas of it by small margins.
Decisive
I like his serve - his technique is good - but occasionally he drops his head and shoulders on the first and finds the net as a result while he could do with injecting a bit more confidence into his second.
I also felt his forehand let him down against Federer when he was serving for the third set; the same was also true in the tie-break, while his net play needs some work but could evolve into the best in the world.
Like the other top players, Murray should be of the mind that Federer will definitely be around until at least the London Olympics and perhaps beyond that for several years.
As a group they can't afford to wait for the Swiss to retire; they've already raised their standards and still Federer remains the best. It's time to lift the level again because the World No 1 is better now than he was four years ago.
Dangerous
Federer felt he played some of the best tennis of his life in Melbourne and it's hard to disagree with him.
Once he had dug himself out of a massive hole in the quarter-finals (when he found himself a set and a break down against Nikolay Davydenko) it was hard to imagine he wouldn't go on and play anything other than great tennis for the rest of the tournament.
Last season's Australian Open defeat to Rafael Nadal and his capitulation to Novak Djokovic in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami - a match in which he smashed his racquet - left a clear mark on Federer.
It was as though he suddenly felt 'hang on, these guys are catching me up here' and from that point on he dedicated himself to getting into incredible shape.
His level of play has increased as a result because he doesn't feel like he has to hit a winner every shot and he's far more dangerous an opponent as a result.
Stunning
Going into Sunday's final I felt that the first four or five games were going to be crucial; both players looked a little bit nervous in that phase and although the overall level of play was high, neither was playing their best tennis.
Crucially, though, Murray backed off a couple of his Federer's second serves when he led 15-30 in the seventh game on his opponent's serve.
The World No 1, like the great champion he is, seized the opportunity and from that point raised his level to produce a set and a half of stunning tennis.
When you are up against the world's best player I don't believe you can afford to think that he's going to miss - you have to put so much pressure on him that he does, otherwise the momentum is lost as Murray found to his cost.
Determination
Just as gripping as the men's finale was Saturday's climax in the women's competition, in which Serena Williams proved she is still an exceptional competitor.
By beating Justin Henin in three sets she secured her 12th major title (the same as Billie-Jean King) - a phenomenal return for someone who has had her fair share of doubters.
Many people thought that Serena and her sister Venus would have long disappeared from the game but instead they remain its dominant force because they haven't overplayed and have application and determination in spades.
Those two were largely responsible for the evolution we have seen in the women's game in terms of power and the fitness: these days you have to be an incredible athlete to be at the top and they both are.
However, in Henin and Kim Clijsters we have two players capable of challenging the Williams' authority and doing it in some style.
For Henin to return to the Grand Slam winning circle so soon after her 20-month break would have been an incredible story and in some ways it was a shame she couldn't quite achieve it.
But she has been working hard on several areas of her game in recent months and I've no doubt that she will add to her haul of major titles at some point this year.
