Tennis-Nadal defeat spurred Murray to greater heights

By Martyn Herman

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - If Andy Murray wins Wimbledon in two weeks he will point to last year's quarter-final defeat by Rafael Nadal as the moment that set him on a path to glory.

Murray arrived at the All England Club seeded 12 last year and after reaching the last eight with a barnstorming comeback against Frenchman Richard Gasquet he was completely outplayed by eventual champion Nadal on Centre Court.

Since then the 22-year-old Scot has beaten everybody worth beating, risen to number three in the world and begins his latest Wimbledon adventure as the second-favourite behind five-times champion Roger Federer.

World number one Nadal, the man he most respects, will be missing because of tendinitis in his knees but Murray is quick to credit the Spaniard with a turning point in his career.

"I actually went away for like three or four weeks after (losing to Nadal) and trained really, really hard over in the States, down in Miami in really warm conditions," Murray, who plays American Robert Kendrick in the first round said.

"I realised that I was in good shape then. But I lost to someone like Rafa, who's probably one of the best athletes to ever play tennis. After Wimbledon I pushed on. I just learnt a lot from the loss to Rafa. I realised I needed to get fitter and stronger. I went away and worked on it."

Murray reached the final of the U.S. Open a few weeks later, beating Nadal in the semi-finals, and carried on his improvement this year by reaching consecutive Masters Series finals, losing to Nadal in Indian Wells and then beating Serb Novak Djokovic to take the Miami title.