Andy Murray to take a break

"The last thing you want is to cry on court, but there we go," says Andy Murray, talking about his emotional post-match reaction yesterday.

Writing his BBC column on the day after his Wimbledon final defeat to Roger Federer, the world number four describes the match as "the best I've played in a Grand Slam final and the best I've felt on the court."

He says he didn't join the rest of his team yesterday evening, but instead "went home and thought about stuff, worked things out in my head."

Almost 17 million people shared Andy Murray's tears after he lost his dramatic Wimbledon match yesterday - the highest figure for any final at the tournament for more than 20 years.

It is thought to be the biggest tennis audience since at least 1990 as the nation united to watch the Scot's nailbiting Centre Court battle with Roger Federer.

At the peak of the match, an audience of 16.9 million was tuning in, overnight figures showed today. That amounted to two-thirds of the TV audience at that time.

The figure compares to 20.3 million for England's Euro 2012 quarter final and 4.2 million for Sunday's British Grand Prix.

"For me, playing against a Brit in the final is something that can never be taken away, and I don't take it for granted," Wimbledon champion Roger Federer told ITV News.

On Andy Murray, Federer said:

"He's got a great team around him, and I think that they're all going to take the right decisions for him to move up from here - because that's where he's going, he's not going down from here."

"He's only going to get stronger - he's at the perfect age right now to have success," he added.

Mark Petchey, Andy Murray's former coach, tells Daybreak, that the tennis player cuts a very different figure away from the tennis court and he likes to keep his private life separate.

This morning's updated ATP rankings show Roger Federer back at No. 1 for the first time in two years. The Wimbledon champion equals Pete Sampras' record of 286 weeks at the summit.

• 1 Roger Federer (Swi) 11075.00pts
• 2 Novak Djokovic (Ser) 11000.00
• 3 Rafael Nadal (Spa) 8905.00
• 4 Andy Murray (Gbr) 7460.00
• 5 David Ferrer (Spa) 5430.00
• 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 5230.00

Click here for the full ATP top 100.

Tennis fans in Dunblane heaped praise on Andy Murray after their local hero lost out in his bid to win Wimbledon. Daybreak's Nick Dixon reports from Dunblane.

Roger Federer's win over Andy Murray has won more than £100,000 for charity.

A gambler who died three years ago wagered the Swiss maestro would win seven or more Wimbledon titles, and the star has now achieved that feat.

Nick Newlife, from Oxford, placed £1,520 on odds of 66/1 with Bookmakers William Hill.

He died in 2009, aged 59, leaving his entire estate - including the bet - to Oxfam, who can now collect £101,840.