Tennis:"I don't believe for one minute that Rafael Nadal knew where Andy Murray's next shot was coming from. Not for one minute." John Lloyd, Britain's Davis Cup captain and a former Australian Open finalist, yesterday joined a throng of players, former players and coaches who were thrilled by the performance of the British teenager against the Spanish world number two, even though he was beaten in five sets in the Rod Laver Arena.

Murray will rise to a career-high 14th in the world next week, with Lloyd expecting the 19-year-old to be in the top 10 at the end of the year. "I saw John McEnroe when he was 17, and he was already doing the sort of different stuff that made you go 'wow', stuff that did not come out of a textbook.

"It was all invention, and Andy is like that. He leans into the ball and caresses it back deep, then all of a sudden he cracks it. You've got to have some special hand-eye co-ordination to do what he can do. You can't teach a 10-year-old to play like McEnroe or Murray. It's a gift that does not come along very often."

Coaches and players alike will now be analysing the match and trying to identify patterns and repetitions in Murray's play, searching for weaknesses and those areas of the court where he might be vulnerable. Lloyd believes it will be a tough task, as does Jim Courier, twice the Australian Open champion. "Murray earned a lot of locker-room respect," said the American. "He's the real deal."

Lloyd added: "I don't know how you can become used to him. Andy can change his shot a split second before he executes it, so you can never be certain what is coming. And there will be even more things that will come out of his game when he fills out.

"We are probably two years away from him being at his physical peak, and when that happens he's going to be a scary prospect - frightening."

Murray is one of a group of talented youngsters chasing the world number one, Roger Federer, including the Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, and Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, and excluding Nadal, still only 20, who is some way ahead of this quintet. "I've had phone calls from people who watched Andy's performance against Rafa and they were totally blown away," said Lloyd. "Word will spread, it was one of the great performances.

"Monfils hasn't the hardness that Murray has. He's going to have great matches, and we're going to have fun watching him, but he's never going to win a grand slam, or even get close. All of them have weaknesses, everybody does. I had thought Djokovic was maybe the best of that group, but watching him the other day against Federer and then comparing him with the best of Murray, then I think Andy's right on top of that list."

Lloyd, like Murray's coach, Brad Gilbert, believes grass will be the Scot's best surface, although the youngster favours the hard courts, particular in the US. "Ninety-five per cent of the tour can play on hard courts, whereas only 10 per cent know how to play on grass, and Andy is one of those. Guys go into Wimbledon knowing they cannot win, so I like Andy's odds."