To question the judgment of somebody so normally phenomenal at his craft as Roger Federer is tantamount to heresy but issue should be taken at the Swiss’ insistence that Andy Murray’s game has barely progressed since the pair first encountered one another across a singles net two and half years ago.

Federer did win on that occasion in Bangkok but defeat in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship means Murray has won their last two meetings and each victory is worthy of being viewed as a momentous chapter in the Scot’s progression.

Therefore issue could easily be taken with Federer’s assertion long before his sweat had time to dry after Murray’s 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 win that the Scot quite legitimately termed one of the most satisfying of his career. “I don’t think he has changed his game a whole lot since the first time I played him and I really thought he would have done,” said Federer who maintained his defeat had nothing really to do with Murray’s game. “He is going to have to grind it very hard in the next few years if he is going to play this way.”

When asked to be elaborate, Federer continued: “He stands way behind the court. You have to do a lot of running and he tends to wait for the mistakes of his opponent. I gave him the mistakes today but overall in a 15-year career you want to look to win a point more often rather than wait for the other guy to miss. Who knows he might surprise us all.”

Obviously an air of disappointment is clouding Federer’s judgment but to suggest Murray’s game has not evolved is ridiculous. Every player has their style and nobody reaches the world’s top ten and amasses five ATP titles before their 21st birthday without constantly working on improvement and variety.

The differences between the Andy Murray of September 2006 and the calm, assured competitor who subjected Federer to an opening round defeat for the first time in close to four years is immense. Regardless of what Murray thinks now about Brad Gilbert, there is no doubt he became more resilient and match tough under the Californian’s guidance and he is a far tougher player physically.

Murray’s serve was nothing short of excellent in overcoming Federer who has ended up Dubai champion on four of the last five years and that wasn’t necessarily the case in Bangkok when he got just 45 per cent of his first deliveries into play, allowed his illustrious opponent nine break points in two sets and hit three double faults.

He is a baseliner but so too are Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. And Murray has the ability to change his tactics to suit the occasion while his volleying skills have come on leaps and bounds over the years. His accuracy and weight of shot contributed to Federer’s agony on the forehand wing and most pleasingly he did not once resort to the inopportune drop shot which has caused as much grief as joy in tight encounters.

There have been many occasions when Andy Murray has left himself open to criticism – his behaviour in the recent Davis Cup episode still seems reprehensible several weeks on – and doubtless, given his single-minded nature, there will be numerous disagreements with his critics in months and years to come.

Roger Federer is not normally a man who could be accused of being a bad loser. But on this occasion he could easily have been considerably more magnanimous to a victor who merited nothing but praise.