Murray and Djokovic set for quick reunion

The best way for a sportsman to bounce back from disappointment is to get going again quickly, which is clearly what Andy Murray is thinking.

The 23-year-old Scot, speaking after his crushing straight sets defeat by Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, said he might not return to the tour until March where he will play his next two mandatory events, the Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.

But after having time to mull over this latest defeat – his third in a Grand Slam Final – Murray has chosen to throw himself back into the thick of things by participating in next week’s World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam and fans will no doubt be keeping a close eye on the goalwire livescores.

The lucrative tournament will have competitive field, with top-10 players Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Jurgen Melzer all taking part as well as bogey man Djokovic, meaning an early chance for revenge.

If Murray can play – and beat – Djokovic so soon after his nightmare in Melbourne it will be a huge psychological boost and give the 23-year-old the confidence that he can compete at the very top of men’s tennis. Fans will watching the live tennis scores to see if he can bounce back from defeat.

He can also look at the Serb for inspiration. Djokovic – like Murray – has suffered by playing at time where two of the games finest ever players, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have been hoovering up titles left, right and centre.

But he has upped his game to try and match those top two, culminating in a masterful performance in the Aussie Open particularly in the semi-final win over Federer and ,of course, his drubbing of Murray in the final.

Murray will understandably be wary of playing too much tennis – he did the same at the start of last year and lost some of his motivation.

But given the manner of his loss down under I think it’s a wise idea to not sulk or fester over the defeat, pick up the racket again and try to bounce back quickly.