Whilst the US Open is still going on; another year has slipped by for Andy Murray without winning a Grand Slam title after his fourth round defeat to Kevin Anderson on Monday night. It will be a fact that is bound to frustrate the man from Dunblane, considering the very impressive season he has had.
However, he has now played nine slams since winning the WImbledon title in 2013, although it should be said he was still coming back into form during 2014, albeit his straight sets defeat by Grigor Dimitrov during the defence of his Wimbledon title was extremely poor.
2015 has seen Murray perform at close to his best once again, winning two Masters titles in Madrid (where he beat Rafa Nadal on clay) and Novak Djokovic in Montreal. He also reached the final of the Australian Open and the semi finals at the French Open and Wimbledon enabling him to rise from sixth in the world at the start of the year to a more natural position of world number three where he is now.
You can also add in the fact he is on course to lead Great Britain into their first Davis Cup final since 1978 and the possibility of a first win since 1936 in the competition. A tough semi-final with Australia awaits next weekend in Glasgow, but there is no doubting from matches against USA and France that Murray is fired up to win the trophy.
However, the failure to land a Grand Slam in an otherwise successful season to date means Murray has significant analysis to do about where it went right and wrong in the four slams this year.
Australian Open (Final- Lost in four sets to Djokovic)
Positives: The main positive for Murray in Melbourne was his run to the final despite being seeded sixth. It was a clear statement that Murray was approaching top form again. He dealt with lower ranked opponents comfortably in the first three rounds before he showed his grit in beating Dimitrov in four sets in round four when a fifth set looked likely when he was 5-2 down in the fourth.
Home hope Nick Kyrgios was well beaten in the quarters in front of an electric atmosphere before Murray produced arguably his best performance since winning Wimbledon when he fought back from a set down to defeat Tomas Berdych in the semi finals, with a superbly aggressive Murray taking sets two and three for the loss of just three games in total.
A fourth Australian Open final in six years showed his consistency at the first Grand Slam of the Year.
Negatives: The main negative is obviously the fact Murray lost the final to Djokovic in four sets. The manner too was disappointing as he allowed himself to be distracted by his opponent's apparent injuries after breaking at the start of the third set. At that point, Murray looked to be in control of a match that was finely poised but his temper came to the fore and his second serve became about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
Losing what proved to be the final set 6-0 in under half an hour was a dreadful way for Murray to end his Australian Open campaign and ultimately he heads into 2016 having failed to win the tournament despite having reached the final on four occasions.
French Open (Semi Final- Lost to Djokovic in Five Sets)
Positives: Murray had been producing some terrific clay court form in the run up to Roland Garros, winning titles in Munich and most impressively in Madrid where he defeated clay maestro Nadal in straight sets and he carried this form on in Paris. Although a set was dropped to Joao Sousa in Round Two, Murray looked confident throughout week one and yet again dealt with a potentially tricky tie against Kyrgios, defeating him in straight sets in round three.
A quarter final victory against Spain's David Ferrer, a man known for his love of clay courts was a timely boost to Murray's confidence especially after missing the chance to win it in straight sets, when he had a match point. A 6-1 win in the fourth set showed Murray's growing confidence on clay against a player who defeated him in the French Open of 2012.
A semi final backed up his pre-tournament form and showed that he was very much a force to be reckoned with in Paris each year now.
Negatives: Left himself with too much to do after losing the opening two sets against Djokovic in the semi final, though the way he fought back compared to the Australian Open final was certainly positive to watch.
He seemed to have the momentum after levelling up a match which went to a second day, but couldn't find his rhythm at the start of the fifth set and ultimately lost it 6-1, in what was his seventh successive loss to Djokovic since beating him in the Wimbledon final.
Also perhaps missed his best opportunity to complete the career slam of appearing in all Major finals.
Wimbledon (Semi Final- Lost to Federer in 3 sets)
Positives: Largely carried on his form from winning Queens. Benefited from an easier draw as it turned out, but coped well with the pressures that brings in front of a home crowd and looked every bit a title winner in the second round against Robin Haase, a player who had given him trouble on a couple of occasions at the US Open.
Despite losing a set, he also coped very well with the giant serving of Croatia's Ivo Karlovic in the fourth round and he also played well in round one against Mikhail Kukushkin who was a much better player than his ranking of 59 suggested. Comfortably dealt with Vasek Pospisil in the quarter finals.
Negatives: Hard to say his display against Federer was a negative, due to the sheer genius of his Swiss opponents display in the semi final. However after electing to receive first, Murray always put himself on the back foot and that would have given Federer even more encouragement as if he needed any. Federer served magnificently though and never really gave Murray a sniff.
Losing a set 6-1 to Andreas Seppi in the third round was also careless and Murray's concentration compared to 2012/13 could certainly be called into question.
US Open (4th Round- Lost in four sets to Kevin Anderson)
Positives : Handled the pressure of playing Kyrgios again in a slam in what was a humdinger of a round one draw, especially after the Australian's pre tournament headline making comments about a fellow countryman "banging Stan Wawrinka's girlfriend."
Fought back in his usual gritty style from two sets down to beat Adrian Mannarino in Round Two and looked a lot more comfortable against Bellucci in Round Three.
Win against Mannarino was his eighth career comeback from two sets down showing you can never write him off.
Negatives: Defeat to Anderson on Monday night meant his earliest exit at a slam since he lost to Wawrinka in the third round of the US Open in 2010. Struggled once again to cope with conditions on the Louis Armstrong stadium against Anderson and it is now clearly bothering him mentally after losing their against Wawrinka and struggling against Haase in 2014 and Cilic in 2012 on the court.
Spent too much time on court during the early rounds after a hectic warm up schedule prior to arriving in New York. With all due respect to Mannarino, there's no way his game should have had the ability to take Murray to five sets.
His forehand wasn't firing on all cylinders right from the start of the tournament compared to its blistering pace which enabled him to defeat Djokovic in the Montreal final. Defeat to Anderson meant he still hasn't been beyond the quarters at Flushing Meadows since winning the tournament in 2012.
Where does Murray go from here?
The first priority for Murray is next weekend's Davis Cup Semi Final against Australia at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow. Murray recognises 2015 as the best chance of him lifting the Davis Cup and he has revelled in his role as talisman. It is looking likely that Murray will be asked to play three matches, though the performances in the US doubles tournament by his brother Jamie and Dominic Inglot who have both reached the semi-finals at the time of writing, might mean he rests out on the Saturday.
From there, his schedule certainly isn't as packed as this time last year when he was playing tournaments every week in an effort to reach the World Tour finals in London. This year he's already qualified and will play the Shanghai Masters in October and the Paris Masters at the start of November as preparation for the finals which start on November 16.
Either those finals in London or a Davis Cup final appearance at the end of November will bring Murray's 2015 to an end. It has been an impressive year to date, but many like myself felt Murray was almost certain to win a slam this year despite the level of competition that now enriches the men's game.
One thing for sure though is that he will be even more determined to correct that wrong in 2016, starting at the Australian Open.
