Murray pragmatic about Australian Open exit

Andy Murray focussed on the positives as his Australian Open campaign ended and vowed to use it as a "stepping stone" to a successful 2014. In his first grand slam since undergoing surgery on a back injury in September, Murray progressed to the quarter-finals before exiting at the hands of Roger Federer on Wednesday, losing 3-6 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 3-6. Fourth seed Murray – a three-time finalist at Melbourne Park – struggled against a ruthless Federer, understandably so given the 26-year-old is battling to get back to his best. The Scot, ranked fourth in the world, is happy with the progress he has made since returning to action last month and is now focussed on continuing to improve. "Obviously that's the highest level I've played at in a long time," said the Wimbledon champion. "I've come a long way in four months. "Obviously right now I'm very disappointed and there are a few things I would have liked to have done differently, but it's the first time I went through something like that (back surgery) and I felt I did a good job of getting myself in shape to be competitive at this level. "There are certain things I would have done slightly differently. "I got myself in good shape to play in this event and was able to push very hard. "I don't know how many players have come back from surgery and won their first grand slam back. "I need to use this as a stepping stone to get better. "I'm playing at a decent level fairly quickly again, so hopefully I'll be back playing my best tennis soon."