Murray has enjoyed his best season on the circuit, recording a third win over Federer this year – and fourth overall in six meetings – on Friday to dump the 13-time grand slam winner out of the Masters Cup.

But with 21-year-old Murray – already a two-time Masters champion this campaign – looking to progress next year, he knows he may have to be content with taking a shot at world number three Novak Djokovic, whom he beat to win the Cincinnati Masters.

"I don't see a whole lot of weaknesses. Federer is, I'm sure, going to want to try to get his number one spot back, and I'm sure he's going to want to try to regain his Wimbledon trophy," said Murray.

"Nadal, now that he's won Wimbledon and the French Open, I'm sure he's going to give it his best effort to get ready for the Australian Open and US Open.

"They are going to be huge for him. They're both definitely going to be top five next year, probably one and two again. They're playing that well and that consistently all the time.

"I won some really big matches this year against the best players in the world. Next year I'll try to improve on that," added Murray.

With his place in the semi-finals of the Masters Cup already assured after wins over Andy Roddick and Gilles Simon, Murray eliminated two-time defending champion Federer, before bowing out in the semis against Nikolay Davydenko.

"The year as a whole has been awesome. At the end of last year, if someone had told me I was going to be number four in the world, won the matches I have, reach my first slam final and beat Federer three times, I would have taken that," he said.

"I hope I can build on it next year. I'll take a little bit of time off now, work as hard as possible to get ready for the beginning of next season, try to put on a little bit more weight, get physically stronger and see what happens."

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