Australia's former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash has accused Andy Murray of collapsing in the latter stages of his Australian Open final defeat to Novak Djokovic.
After the first two sets were split in two hours and 32 minutes, Murray looked to be in command against an ailing Djokovic when he broke for a 2-0 lead in the third.
However, from then on the 27-year-old Scot won just one of the next 13 games as a rejuvenated Djokovic raised his game to secure a fifth Australian Open and eighth grand slam title with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-0 win in three hours and 39 minutes.
Murray acknowledged in his post-match press conference that he was distracted by Djokovic's fluctuating physical condition, and, during commentary on the BBC, Cash agreed this was the moment when it all started to unravel for the two-time grand slam winner.
"Things just started snowballing for Murray once he lost that concentration when everything was going his way," the 1987 Wimbledon winner said.
"He hasn't put up a great fight, he hasn't. He absolutely collapsed.
"Sorry but you don't put a rose tint on this. He melted down, he's been disappointing and the bottom line is, the situation got too much.
"He has to look at it and say 'I can't do this again. What has gone wrong, what did I do wrong?' It's the same stuff that's happened his whole career.
"He needs to find the right balance, the right balance between attack and defence.
"He'll be sat there thinking 'what happened, what did I do, I'm a disgrace, I've let everyone down', but he'll learn from it."
Murray has not beaten a world No.1 since defeating Djokovic in the 2013 Wimbledon final and Cash said he needed to stay focused if that is to change in the near future.
"He's got to focus and look at why he had the meltdown," he said.
"If he works on that part of his game then I can see him holding the Wimbledon trophy but he's got to look in the mirror.
"This is not the worst thing for him to be, I'd almost say embarrassed, and hopefully he'll learn from it."
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