Imagine Rambo offering an embarrassed shrug and a public apology for a couple of hours of savage butchery and you get the picture of Rafael Nadal as he attempted, oh so diplomatically, to soften the impact of his brutal termination of outlandish British dreams for yet another Wimbledon.

You had to admire this cross between Genghis Khan and Henry Kissinger after he followed up his merciless Centre Court pummelling of Andy Murray, the sort of beating from the ultimate in bronzed tennis bullies designed to induce a serious inferiority complex in any would-be champion, with the diplomatic observation that his victim would return better and stronger.

"Not much," responded Nadal, when asked what Murray would have to do to climb to the next level after his best Grand Slam yet.

"If he plays tennis like this he'll be in the top five very soon and for sure he has good chances to win here at Wimbledon."

Yes, but as John McEnroe was quick to point out after wincing at the butchery from the safety of the BBC commentary box: "Andy's got a couple of people in the way - the most obvious one being Nadal himself!"

This is the problem when trying to gauge exactly where Murray's career has now been transported.

For while the comeback win over Richard Gasquet may still be, as he hopes, a turning point because it showcased his talent and spirit like never before, the subsequent dismantling by Nadal only emphasised the vast distance he still has to travel.

Whether Murray will ever reach his intended destination remains debatable. Of course, making his first quarter-final in just his third Wimbledon at only 21 marked a breakthrough for the Scot but as for offering any meaningful long-term forecast, we would probably be as well to think back to another 21-year-old who also first reached the last eight in his third Wimbledon.

Yes, Tim Henman came close but never did quite crack it.

Last night, Ladbrokes reckoned it was odds-on that Murray would win a Grand Slam before his 30th birthday. Ah, but it was also odds-on that he wouldn't!

The bookies remember how Henman went on to reach three more quarter-finals and four semi-finals but always ran into a great champion or inspired contender - like Pete Sampras, twice, Michael Stich, Lleyton Hewitt and Goran Ivanisevic.

So what price something maddeningly similar happening to Murray? For starters, if injury doesn't sidetrack Nadal - and surely it must be an everpresent threat for a player whose game is based upon unprecedented explosive physicality - the Spaniard, just 22, could be one of those lording it over the Scot for years to come alongside Novak Djokovic and a certain Mr Federer.

Asked whether he was "worried" about the potential for years of Nadal torment, Dunblane's finest sounded almost affronted. "No, I have to view it as a good thing, to see that I can improve so many things in my game. You know, Rafa's improved a lot and I have to work even harder and try to get up to that level. I do think it's possible."

And that's the exactly the attitude we needed to hear. Murray could easily have just felt sorry for himself after such a pounding yet he wouldn't entertain a negative thought; instead, he talked only about getting back to the practice courts in a couple of days and starting to prepare his assault on the US hard court season, culminating in the US Open, the tournament he believes offers him his best chance.

There was much to commend about Murray's fortitude during the game, too. He wasn't on his 'A' game; he was being steamrollered by a player inspired and he could easily have surrendered to Nadal's game which McEnroe hailed as "awesome to behold". Yet he kept scrapping and clinging on bravely.

Okay, so he got crushed but he's in esteemed company. In his recent winning streak of 22 matches, Nadal has meted out the same treatment to, among others, Andy Roddick, Djokovic three times and Federer twice. At least, Murray can console himself that he won nine games, which is four more than Federer won off Nadal in the French Open final.

The point is that Nadal, already a phenomenon, appears now to have elevated his game to a pitch of intensity, speed, accuracy and power that even he seemed to wonder if he could play any better.

Yesterday's result may not look half so bad should Nadal finally end Federer's Wimbledon reign on Sunday, an outcome increasingly being considered.

It says much about Nadal's current quality that a champion who is unbeaten on grass for 63 matches and six years and who's not lost a set on his imperious march towards a sixth straight singles crown suddenly has so many doubters, from Bjorn Borg to now Murray himself, all playing down his chances.

Yet it is not so much that Federer's greatness looks any less pronounced, more that there's a sensation that the true dawning of the Nadal era could be officially announced on Sunday.

Murray enthused that "you actually see how fast Nadal swings his racquet through the air" whenever he whipped that top-spin forehand, "the heaviest shot in tennis", and it made him think of how different it was to Federer's invisible "effortless" power.

Like the rest of us, he couldn't imagine anything now stopping a third successive final of these glorious contrasts between the Fed's amazing grace and Rafa's amazing pace, between Federer's beauty and Nadal's beast of a game.

Murray's odyssey was a delight while it lasted but it was never going to interrupt the next compelling chapter of sport's most magnificent rivalry.