Andy Murray turns 21 next week and should still have everything to play for. Yet the career of Britain's lone quality singles player is in a state of drift, having struggled to impose himself in the biggest tournaments - of the top 30 in the world rankings, only Ivo Karlovic, of Croatia, has a worse record. In which direction the former teenage prodigy heads is a subject convulsing conversation here.

His straight-sets defeat in the second round of the BNL D'Italia Masters by Stanislas Wawrinka, of Switzerland, on Wednesday caused much consternation. The only excuse Murray made for it was that he felt “heavy-legged”, this revelation coming a week after his defeat in the first round of the Barcelona tournament, a match for which he said he could not get fired up. Murray later said that if he did not get back into the world's top ten, it would not be worth sticking around. “There's not much fun in me playing the game otherwise,” he said.

Murray ought to be among the freshest and most eager players on the tour, not least because he has no ranking points to defend through the clay and grass-court seasons, when every match is an opportunity to enhance his ranking. He would have been up seven places to No11 had he won this championship, but the circumstances of his defeat in Rome raised doubts as to whether he can live up to the demands he places on himself.

So far in his professional career he has won five ATP titles, in San Jose, California (twice), St Petersburg, Doha and Marseilles. In Masters Series events he has reached two semi-finals but has not been beyond the last 16 in nine grand-slam tournaments. He has earned in the region of $2.1million (about £1.07million) in prize-money, multiplying that many times over with endorsements from Fred Perry clothing, Head rackets, David Lloyd Leisure, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Highland Spring, whose patches he wears on his sleeve.

Next week Murray is scheduled to play in the German Open in Hamburg, where he damaged ligaments in his right wrist a year ago, keeping him off court for three months. The French Open, in which he lost in the first round in his only appearance in 2006, looms large. So where does Murray stand?

Attitude

It was shocking against Wawrinka and, as matches go by, it becomes increasingly apparent that his on-court demeanour holds him back. One commentator said: “To succeed in tennis, you need fire in the belly and ice in the head; Murray has the fire in the belly, but his head is on fire, as well.”

There is a greater sense of calm than when Brad Gilbert, his former coach, was the focus for his anger, but Murray gets down on himself far too early, by which time he is often facing uphill. It took a perceived insult to Judy, his mother, by Juan Martín Del Potro, of Argentina, in his first match at the Foro Italico on Monday to get Murray sufficiently fired up.

Coaching

This is Murray's fourth year as a professional and he has had three coaches - Mark Petchey, Gilbert and Miles Maclagan. For the clay-court season, Alex Corretja has been added and Louis Cayer, a French-Canadian on the LTA staff, who has Judy's seal of approval, is a regular at courtside.

How many people are trying to get inside Murray's head at the same time? Who does he take notice of and who does he ignore? The most successful tennis teams have been of the one-player, one-coach variety, à la Borg-Bergelin, Edberg-Pickard, Becker-Bosch, Agassi-Gilbert, Nadal-Nadal. It is clear that Murray requires one man's undivided attention, even though he says that “it can be pretty tough mentally to be with the same person all the time”.

Off-court guidance

Patricio Apey, of ACE Group, has been Murray's manager for three years since the player's split from Octagon. Apey does all the deals and said, when Highland Spring signed up, that it was part of a long-term plan that could net the player more than £80million. When Murray skipped Great Britain's Davis Cup tie in Argentina this year, not only did his brother, Jamie, criticise him, but Judy was troubled by the negative media coverage.

Stuart Higgins, the former Editor of The Sun, was brought on board to improve Murray's image. The Scot is articulate and bright, but wary of forming close relationships with the tennis press. He has an autobiography coming out next month entitled Hitting Back. At whom? For what? Unfortunate title, unfortunate timing.

Personal rating

Murray's personal website is replete with those who follow every move with a fanatical devotion and for whom he can barely do wrong. Across the broader spectrum, he does not have the affinity with the British public that Tim Henman had. He is touted as “a role model for a whole generation”, but that does not sit well with more mature audiences, who tire of his confrontational, on-court style.

British tennis

Murray is the sport in Britain. The LTA sought to ingratiate itself with him by paying over the odds for Gilbert and was embarrassed when they parted after 16 months. It will do all it can to placate him.

Without Murray, Britain's hopes of winning a tie in the Davis Cup are nil and any ambivalence he shows towards the competition has the LTA breaking out in a rash. He says that he will play against Austria in September, but it is a huge demand on him to play two five-set singles and the doubles in every tie.

- Victory for Federer

Of his 13 previous sets against Ivo Karlovic, the 6ft 10 Croatian, Roger Federer had been taken to a tie-break eight times, so it was no surprise that the world No1 from Switzerland required another inspired performance to secure his passage into the quarter-finals of the BNL D'Italia Masters. Federer beat Karlovic 7-6, 6-3 and the Italian fans breathed a little easier, for it would have been a blow to lose the Swiss the day after Rafael Nadal, the world No2 from Spain, went out.