Andy Murray insists Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal remain the men to beat next year.

Murray has enjoyed his best season on the circuit, rising to fourth in the ranking, winning five ATP titles and £2.5million in prize money.

The British No1 also recorded a third win over Federer in 2008 when he dumped the 13-times Grand Slam winner out of the Masters Cup.

But Murray, 21, has yet to claim a maiden Grand Slam and knows he may have to be content with trying to take the No3 spot from Novak Djokovic, who began the year by winning the Australian Open and ended it yesterday with victory in Shanghai, where he beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 7-5 in the Masters Cup final.

"I don't see a whole lot of weaknesses. Federer is going to want to try to get his No1 spot back and I'm sure he's going to want to try to regain his Wimbledon trophy too," said Murray.

"Nadal, now that he's won Wimbledon and the French Open, 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 probably going to be one and two again next year."

After losing to Nadal at Wimbledon and in Toronto, Murray beat the Spaniard on his way to the US Open Final in a epic match which the Briton ranks alongside Friday's three-hour win over Federer.

"I won some really big matches this year and next year I'll try to improve on that," Murray said. "Hopefully that will make a difference next year."

Despite losing to Russia's Davydenko in the Shanghai semi-finals, Murray quickly turned his attentions to an even better 2009.

"The year as a whole has been awesome," he said. "But I hope I can build on it next year. "