Ankle injury could force beaten Briton to miss Queen's Club

Murray happy with show in first French semi-final but admits King of Clay is in a different league

(EPA)

Andy Murray will decide in the coming days whether he is fit enough to play in next week's Aegon Championships at Queen's Club. The world No 4 has nursed an ankle injury through his past three matches here at the French Open and with Wimbledon starting in 16 days' time he may need to rest.

"I'll have to see how I feel in the next couple of days," Murray said last night. "When I get back I'll see my physio and talk about the best thing to do. If staying on the anti-inflammatories and the painkillers is right, then I could easily be on the practice court tomorrow, no problem. But if it's best to get off them for a few days and see how everything is really feeling, I might have to take a couple of days off."

He added: "I have to prepare in the next two weeks like I'm going to be the Wimbledon champion. That's the only way to get there. I need to do all the right things, practise the right way, the way that I need to play to win Wimbledon."

Although disappointed to lose to Rafael Nadal in his first semi-final here, Murray said he was happy with the way he had played. "It was a close match," he said. "It was a long match, a lot of long games, a lot of deuce games. A lot of service games were really, really tight. I thought I did well."

He added: "I had a lot of break point opportunities. Rafa played well on a lot of them. He served well and was able to dictate a lot of the points with his forehand."

Murray said the windy conditions had been difficult to handle, particularly when dust was blown into his eyes on two successive points when Nadal served at 15-40 early in the second set in an important game which the Spaniard went on to hold. "It happened a few times at crucial moments for me, but it probably wouldn't have changed the outcome of the match," Murray said. "Rafa is a better clay-court player than me. That's a fact. It's always been like that since we both started on the tour."

However, Murray believes he has closed the gap on the Spaniard. "I think I'm better on clay, a lot better than I was last year, but I still have a way to go to be as good as him, as does pretty much every player on the tour. I need to work on some things. I look forward to that for next year, but now I've got to concentrate on how to win against the likes of him and Roger and Novak on the grass."

Murray believes that standards have risen sharply in the men's game. "Even in comparison with two years ago, I feel like players are quicker," he said. "I feel like they're hitting the ball harder. I feel like everyone has improved a lot."

The Scot said he had enjoyed working with the Adidas coaches Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld following his split with Alex Corretja. He will work with them again in the week before Wimbledon. "I feel like I'm playing well again," Murray said. "I'm sure I can still learn a lot more from those guys, and I look forward to it.