Andy Murray may have lost to Rafael Nadal twice in the past two weeks, but he is unlikely to dwell on such facts; he has been only too aware of the Spaniard's superiority for the best part of a decade.

It was a defeat to Nadal in 1999 that saw the career trajectory of the Scotsman take a rapid incline.

Murray, aged 12, had just been beaten by a Majorcan 11 months his senior in an Under-16s Championship in Barcelona and discovered – over a post-match game of racquetball – that Nadal's coach was former World No1 Carlos Moya. Murray decided there and then to move to Spain, pay £20,000 (Dh145,000) a year to be trained by Emilio Sánchez and "try to become a player".

His trying has paid off in the past few years as the Scot has surged his way up the ATP rankings. He is now world No9.

However, his opponent that day in Spain will always have that head-start. Such has been cruelly confirmed, first in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, and then this week in the semi-finals of the Toronto Masters.

By all accounts, Murray, now 21, is playing the best tennis of his career. He beat French favourite Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon before his old nemesis Nadal dispatched him with ease at the All-England in the next round.

Likewise, while Murray beat world No3 Novak Djokovic for the first time in the quarter-finals in Toronto, then, again, Nadal conquered the Scot in straight sets 7-6, 6-3. The Spaniard went on to beat Nicolas Kiefer of Germany in the final – also in straight sets. The victory means Spanish success at next week's Cincinnati Masters could see Nadal dethrone Roger Federer at the top of the world rankings – if the current world No1 fails to progress past the quarter-finals.

Once an unimaginable scenario, Federer's form has been lacking of late and was epitomised by an opening round defeat to Gilles Simon.

It was a worrying start to his hard court season and couldn't come at a worse time with the Beijing Olympics and the US Open fast approaching.


Three is the magic number

Carlos Sastre became the third Spaniard in as many years to win the Tour de France. The 33-year-old rounded off a successful month for his country, which has now won three major sporting events in the past month. The national football team won the European Championships and Nadal won Wimbledon.