Andy Murray’s collapse against Novak Djokovic in the recent Australian Open final was horrible to watch, as the Scot gained, then lost total control of the encounter.

Losing 12 games from 13 having been a break up in the third meant Murray collapsed to a 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-0 defeat to Djokovic in Melbourne.

The destruction of two rackets immediately after the handshakes provided the most visible and obvious sign of the Scot’s frustration.

This possibly concerns Murray becoming distracted by Djokovic’s injury struggles during the third set. 

While the Serb recently publicly declared that he wishes to clear the air with Murray, the Scot’s sudden collapse is worrying regardless.

Murray is a top player both physically and technically, able to beat opponents in a variety of styles and the Scot rightly considered the Australian Open to have been his most consistent Grand Slam fortnight ever.

The Scot deserves better than two weeks of high-quality tennis to be remembered for two bad sets at the end of it, though understandably mental questions are being asked of him.

There are arguments that Murray’s collapse reflects the British mentality of being proud of heroic losers rather than gritty winners, but this traditional narrative largely seems unfair and inaccurate.

By all accounts Murray was tenaciously competitive right from a young age, fighting to beat  brother Jamie at absolutely anything from dominoes to tennis. 

This mentality is far more akin to that of a steely determined winner, in the mould of the traditional narrative given to Australians.

Murray certainly has some mental demons to overcome, but it is unfair to ascribe these to a wider British mentality. 

The wider problems in tennis cannot be connected with this superb talent — let us not forget that the Scot has won two grand slams already and has plenty of time to add more.

Many fail to remember that Murray is playing in comfortably the most competitive era of men’s tennis, sharing a crowded stage at the top with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. 

The Scot is a top player and the fantastic standard these four have set in men’s tennis goes a long way to explain why he has not had even more success.

Though Murray is certainly not afflicted by the traditional British mentality, it does appear to be part of a wider problem across tennis and other sports. 

Clearly getting youngsters playing and enjoying sport is a positive thing but it is wrong to overestimate the importance of winning when addressing the next generation.

British tennis was carried by Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski for a decade either side of the new millennium, before Murray had taken the baton, but it would be a welcome change for the Scot to have some support.

British singles players aside from Murray rarely make it past the opening rounds of tournaments, with Jamie Ward making the Queens final in 2011 but largely failing to build on this success.

Almost four years on from that success Ward is the British men’s number 2 but has still yet to breach the top 100 in the world rankings, so quite clearly there is still a wider problem in tennis.

The last decade has seen various high-profile projects to improve British tennis with a relative lack of success, with funding cuts across recent years certainly not helpful in this regard.

Ultimately utilising the knowledge of ex-players such as Henman and Rusedski wherever possible would be an ideal start — Murray cites the former as an excellent mentor and adviser during the difficult early years of his career in the spotlight.

It would be great to see multiple British tennis players truly competing for Grand Slams but we have to be realistic in our expectations.

Given the far greater populations, funding and coaching available in the United States and Russia in particular, and many European countries with more successful players than Britain currently, there is no quick fix.

Funding, coaching and a rethink of the guiding philosophy all appear necessary in encouraging the growth of British tennis. 

However, more than any of these things this will require one thing too often lacked in professional sport, the media and the British public: patience.