French Open 2017: Andy Murray takes heart from return to form

The world number one headed home from Paris after losing a five-setter to Stan Wawrinka in the semi-finals.

Having arrived at Roland Garros with only four victories since February, winning five straight matches and beating the likes of Juan Martin del Potro and Kei Nishikori should be considered a more than decent result.

Murray will now have a week to prepare for the defence of his title at Queen's Club before turning his attention to Wimbledon and the pursuit of a third trophy.

The Scot felt he answered a lot of the questions hanging over him heading into the French Open and will look to continue to improve the areas of his game that are still slightly below par.

Murray is not playing as aggressively as he was last year and could do with ramping up his serve and his forehand another couple of notches.

He said: "I played pretty well these last few matches. Even when you're playing well, you're not going to win every match you play, but I put myself in a position to reach a slam final, so I'm obviously playing pretty good.

"How close that is to my tennis from last year, I don't know. It's very difficult to say. Hopefully it gives me a good base to go into the grass-court season.

"Often when I have done well on the clay, I feel like that's helped me a little bit on the grass. Certainly the matches are not as physical, so going through matches like I did (against Wawrinka) is a good step for me.

"I needed to spend a lot of time on the court and I had to work hard. I'll try to understand what worked well this event and what worked well in the 10 days in the build-up and the practices.

"And make sure I continue to do that throughout the year, not make any mistakes with my preparation or my training, and hopefully I finish the year strong."

Former British number one Greg Rusedski has been impressed by Murray's progress this fortnight and believes he is well placed for grass.

The 43-year-old, who is working for Eurosport, told Press Association Sport: "As a whole it's been a very positive tournament for him.

"Obviously he didn't start in the first two rounds playing great but then lifted his game for the Del Potro match and then I think he played very well, getting to the semi-finals, losing to Stan, who played a fantastic match. It's probably the best tennis he's played this year.

"He did exceed my expectations because we didn't know where he was. He had an amazing push in 2016 to get to number one. It's easy in retrospect to say he should have taken some time off.

"He had shingles, then he had an elbow problem, then he was on antibiotics leading up to the French Open so to get to the semis is a good result, and also (coach Ivan) Lendl back on the team.

"It puts him in a good position heading into the grass-court season. He's won Wimbledon twice, he's won Queen's five times, which is incredible. The draw at Queen's is one of the best draws we've ever seen so it would be amazing if he can win it for a sixth time.

"He's managed to turn things around just in time, and hopefully Ivan will be there throughout the whole campaign with him."

Murray's good run has ensured his world number one spot is not yet under any pressure, although victory over Wawrinka on Sunday would see Rafael Nadal close to within 3,000 points.

Given the Spaniard missed Wimbledon last year, Murray could then be vulnerable at the All England Club if he does not go deep in the tournament.

Murray is also back in the top eight of the yearly standings, and Rusedski expects the 30-year-old to push on.

He said: "Last year he played so many more matches and won so many more matches. It's all about getting your confidence back against the very best because some of the losses we've seen this year we haven't seen happen to Murray in a long, long time.

"It's coming back and I think we're not going to get any more shock results where he loses to people like (Borna) Coric.

"Now the question mark is when he's playing the Stans and the Federers and the Rafas, can he push through those guys?"