Henman praises Murray

The now-retired Henman described the surprise triumph over the world number one as "one hell of a win" and contradicted Federer's assertion that Murray's game has not progressed in recent years.

"Andy has definitely improved his tennis," Henman told The Telegraph.

"He is getting better and better and that's the most exciting thing, that he is still so young, and his best tennis may be a year or two years away.

"Things have happened so quickly for him, and he has made improvements to his game both mentally and physically.

"And there is still room for improvement. I think that there are going to be some exciting things ahead for Andy."

The 33-year-old Oxford man, who helped lead Britain into the Davis Cup World Group with a victory over Croatia in his swansong last September, was especially impressed with Murray's mentality against a player many believe to be the greatest who ever lived.

"I was struck by how composed Andy looked," Henman continued in his glimmering assessment of Murray's progress.

"I think the biggest change to Andy has been in his attitude on court. He is controlling his emotions a lot better. Before, it was always a little bit up and down.

"But when he in that great frame of mind, and he is dealing with adversity he looks extremely good. That attitude gives him a platform to play from.”

The 20-year-old Scot, ranked 11th in the world coming into this week's Dubai Championships, did not face a single break point and fired ten aces against Federer in one of the best service performances of his career.

"I had thought that Andy's serve was fantastic," Henman said. "He has made some technical changes, and it looks as though he is serving bigger and more consistently, and what more do you want in your serve?"

"The proof was in the pudding against Federer. Andy held serve throughout, and had no break points against him, and that's incredible. That just doesn't happen."

Henman added that Murray could soon be a threat to Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at Grand Slams.

"But I don't think it's possible to say that Federer is not as dominant as he used to be," the former world number four cautioned.

"He played some phenomenal tennis towards the end of last season, and he has set his bar so high, and it's inevitable that he is going to lose from time to time.

"It will be interesting to see how the year unfolds because there is competition. Djokovic is playing brilliantly, and I still think that Nadal will be the guy to beat on clay. And Andy is coming up towards that top bracket of players."