Novak Djokovic was not surprised Andy Murray found it impossible to replicate his Wimbledon heroics at the US Open.
The defending champion was well below his best all tournament and was no match for an inspired Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarter-finals in New York.
It was not so much that Murray lost but the manner of it that shocked many people, with the Scot winning just nine games across three sets and failing to create a single break point.
Murray was a shadow of the player that beat Djokovic in straight sets in the Wimbledon final two months ago and he admitted he had found it hard to fire himself up.
Djokovic said: “It’s never easy after you win a grand slam to motivate yourself again to play smaller tournaments and then to prepare yourself again to be mentally, physically, emotionally 100% committed to another grand slam that is basically just a month and a half after his biggest win in his career, which is Wimbledon.
“I have been in this particular situation. I know how it feels. But this is tennis.
“You definitely learn always something new every single season and you grow as a person and as a player.
“That kind of a mindset to always try to get better on the court, off the court, helped me to understand what I need to do in order to stay number one, in order to always try to win the grand slam titles.
“Because it’s a huge competition. All the top players are very consistent. In order to be in the mix for number one in the world or a contender for a major title, you have to be giving everything that you have.”
The defeat was Murray’s worst since losing to Wawrinka in the third round of the US Open three years ago.
He did, though, maintain his record of having reached at least the quarter-finals at every grand slam tournament he has played since then.
And Murray was keeping the loss in perspective after what has been an incredible 13 months, a period that has seen him win an Olympic gold medal, the US Open and Wimbledon.
He said: “I don’t know if I’m meant to win every grand slam I play or be in the final it’s very, very difficult just now. With the guys around us, it’s very challenging.
“I have played my best tennis in the slams the last two, three years. I lost in straight sets, so that’s disappointing. I would have liked to have gone further.
“But I can’t complain. If someone told me before the US Open last year I would have been here as defending champion having won Wimbledon and Olympic gold, I would have taken that 100%.
“So I’m disappointed but the year as a whole has been a good one.”
Murray was asked numerous times about the experience of defending a grand slam title for the first time, while he will have another chance at Wimbledon next year.
He said: “I think that had zero bearing on the match.
“It was my fifth match of the tournament, so I thought I handled it OK. It was a new experience for me and something that was good to go through, and I will learn from that for next time.”
Murray wasted no time in returning home but he will be back in action next weekend as Great Britain take on Croatia in the Davis Cup.
Last year, pulling on a GB shirt for the Olympics provided the perfect antidote to his Wimbledon final loss and Murray will hope guiding Britain back to the World Group can have a similar effect.
“I need to take a few days’ rest and then get practising on the clay courts and hopefully we can win the match,” he said.
Richard Gasquet, meanwhile, must look back to when he was the future of tennis for proof that he can beat Rafael Nadal.
The pair meet in the US Open semi-finals today, and if things go the same way as they have in their other 10 professional matches then there will only be one winner.
But Nadal did not always have the advantage over the Frenchman, who is just two weeks younger.
The pair met for the first time 14 years ago at Les Petits As in Tarbes, France one of the biggest tournaments in the world for under-14s.
A 13-year-old Gasquet won in three sets, and that is the one and only time he has beaten his now fellow 27-year-old.
Gasquet said: “I have seen on YouTube that video. I can see I’m winning against him, so I don’t believe it sometimes.
“I didn’t know him when I played him. He was already fighting a lot, already running so much, and I remember I won 6-4 in the third set. I told my father afterwards, ‘He’s a big fighter’.
“It’s good to win under 14, but it’s better to win on the pro tour, and I didn’t. But life is long. We are only 27 years old. So why not?”
Gasquet, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic were all junior rivals but it was the Frenchman who was the most hyped.
It would have been hard to believe then that at the peak of their careers the other trio would have won 20 grand slam titles between them, while Gasquet had not done as much as reach a final.
It is six years since he made his only previous semi-final, at Wimbledon, but the Frenchman has already secured two of the most important victories of his career in New York.
First he saved a match point to beat Milos Raonic in the fourth round and then recovered from losing a two-set lead to defeat David Ferrer on Wednesday.
The man famed for a wondrous backhand and a frail nerve had outfought one of tennis’ great battlers, but turning the tables on Nadal will require a whole other level of effort.
Not least because the left-handed Nadal’s high-kicking forehand is a nightmare for players with a single-handed backhand.
Nadal has won all 20 of his matches on hard courts this year, and played possibly the best of them in a quarter-final rout of Tommy Robredo.
He is happy to see his former junior rival at this stage, saying: “He’s a nice guy and one of the players on the tour that I feel closest to because we are the same age.
“We grew up in similar ways and we played when we were kids. Today we have the chance to be in the semi-finals of the US Open. It’s a great thing for both of us, so I’m very happy.”
The other semi-final will see world No 1 Djokovic take on Murray’s conqueror Wawrinka.
Wawrinka has had the best season of his career, capped by a run to the last four at a slam for the first time.
The Swiss showed he had reached a new level at the Australian Open in January when he pushed Djokovic to 12-10 in the fifth set in one of the matches of the year.
If Wawrinka plays the way he did in routing an admittedly out-of-sorts Murray then Djokovic will need to be at his best.
Djokovic said “In the past we all knew that he has the quality to play that well, but not on a consistent basis.
“He’s a very complete player. He can play equally well on any surface. He had one of the best seasons in his life.”