On Monday we had a vivid revelation of how far Andy Murray has come. Yesterday we had an even more vivid revelation of how far he has to go. Murray left the Championships a sadder and wiser man; he also left looking as if he had just attempted to arm-wrestle a mechanical flail.

It was a humiliation, but not a disgrace. Murray had the misfortune of running into a genuinely great player playing at the very top of his game. There is hardly a player in history who could have lived with Rafael Nadal yesterday, particularly when he was within reach of perfection in the second set. Nadal gave a performance that was not only bad news for Murray, it was also bad news for Roger Federer.

If the two meet in the final again, Federer will be facing a better player than he did last year - and last year's version was pretty close to brilliant.

More or less from the start it was clear that the best Murray could do was to hold on and fight, and that the fight was not against Nadal but against the still greater enemy of despair. That enemy at least was kept in bounds: in so far as he was allowed to fight, Murray fought.

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That was not enough to prevent the match finishing with an ugly scoreline of 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Murray was not allowed so much as a sniff on Nadal's serve, managing only ten points against it in the entire match. In the meantime, he was forced to struggle on his own serve almost every time, and not because he was sloppy, or because his second serve - notoriously fallible - was playing up. No, Nadal was just too good.

Sometimes an athlete has to come to terms with that sort of thing. In a way it is easier to get down on yourself than to make the big admission, to say: “I lost because I made mistakes, I lost because I had no rhythm on my serve, I lost because I made a few wrong decisions.” In other words, you are saying to yourself that on another day: “I would have won. I am good enough to win: I just didn't. Another day, it would have been different.” And so the sporting life continues.

But yesterday, Murray could conclude only that even with his A game totally intact, even with the best decision-making possible, even with every possible thing going in his favour, he would still have lost. He lost not because of his own failings, but because Nadal is a much better tennis player than him.

Oh, there are a few things you could carp at in Murray's performance: a desperate drop shot in the first set that helped to lead to the service break, a volley error in the second that opened the door again. But to concentrate on such things is to miss the point. Nadal was playing a brand of power tennis that was virtually error-free, so salute the winner first. Only then is it proper to ask where the loser goes from here.

Murray has learnt some great lessons this week. He has learnt that he can play his best on the big stage, that he can surf the wave of the Centre Court crowd's love, that the big stage is his natural environment. He has also learnt that to win a grand-slam title he has a fair bit more to find.

The first thing required is an honest assessment of the match and his performance. And Murray was heading the right way. Spurning the usual loser's clichés, he said: “He played so much better than me. He was playing too well for me. His forehand was ridiculous. I felt rushed on every point.”

Murray's demeanour in victory and defeat has been something to respect over the past few days. He has spoken well and sometimes with piercing honesty, revealing what seems to be a newfound sense of who he is and what he is for. He is moving in a good direction, without fooling himself or seeking to blame others. His tennis has been impressive, his assessments of himself and his matches have been spot on. He knows where and how he has failed. In theory, then, he knows what to work on.

He is young - 21 - and has scope for plenty of improvement. I know that Nadal is only 22, but he really is an exception. Murray has had a good fortnight, albeit a truncated one. And we have all had a great ride. The way he carried himself was genuinely encouraging. It seems that those now traditional British teatime agonies can continue next year.

Nadal marches on and it will take Federer at his pluterperfect best to stop him, and that is a prospect to enthral. Clay-court specialist? Nadal looks as much at home on grass as my horse. He is a great sportsman at his peak and I can't wait to see more. Murray thinks that he has improved remarkably since last year and talked about his power, his intensity and the technical fact that he is hitting the ball lower over the net, but with a similar amount of spin.

“It's shooting through the court a bit more, which makes it harder,” Murray said. It's no fun playing Nadal on grass, that's what Murray actually meant. He hardly ever felt that he was in a point. Nadal gave a remarkable performance yesterday. Now we wait to see if he can do it again.

Murray has showed many things at this Wimbledon. He has touch and finesse and stubbornness. He also has a tennis brain, a streak of honesty, a love of the limelight and some bouncy new muscles.

He can serve deep and spitefully. He can play the drop shot beautifully; he can also play it like a fool. But the most important thing he has shown is that he can find his best tennis at the toughest moment. That is something all champions possess, for tennis is a game that lends itself more than most to inspiration.

Murray can work that bit of magic all right. He is a better player now than he was two weeks ago, and he will need to be.