LONDON -- Andy Murray found himself in a painfully familiar position on Sunday, holding a runners-up trinket while Novak Djokovic lifted the real prize.
His 2015 season begun in earnest with him being frustrated in defeat by Djokovic in the Australian Open final, and that Paris Masters loss has left it close to ending on a similar note.
Murray's record against Djokovic this year doesn't make pretty reading -- six defeats in seven meetings, with the Toronto Masters final his only victory. It would be generous to even call it a rivalry in its current form.
However, in many ways this has been Murray's most impressive season to date; he has recorded his biggest tally of wins in a single season with 68 so far, and is on the cusp of achieving his highest year-end ranking of No. 2 in the world.
Still, the gap to the top spot is far greater than the numerical step appears, and Murray wants to start closing it as quickly as possible, starting with the World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena. Should the pair meet in the knockout stages next week, having been drawn in separate groups on Thursday, he'll get a chance.
"It's difficult to make changes in the space of a few days, but there's definitely things that you can learn," Murray told ESPN this week.
"I only played Novak a few days ago, but also watching matches from the past that I played against him, just seeing what things I can do differently.
"I sat down with my team the day after the final in Paris and spoke about that. Hopefully, if I come up against him I'll perform a bit better.
Murray said that Djokovic has had "incredible" consistency this year.
"He's lost very few matches and pretty much every week has played at an extremely high level, which is so hard to do," Murray said. "He deserves to be No. 1 in the world. It's up to everyone else, myself included, to try to close that gap."
How does Murray go about passing Djokovic? Coach Amelie Mauresmo could be the answer, and it is clear that Murray is keen to get his coach back on board.
The Frenchwoman has been absent since Wimbledon after giving birth to her first child, with assistant Jonas Bjorkman taking the reins, but she could return in Melbourne for the Australian Open.
"I think a lot of the things I've worked on in the last 18 months has been adding variety back to my game," Murray said, speaking at the launch of the Radical tennis collection from Head in central London. "I feel like that's something I'd lost a little bit in the time before that.
"It's gone well, but the main objective for me, the goal for next year, is to try to close the gap on Novak. I need to learn how to do that.
"It helps [having a settled coach]. Having continuity is important in all sports. You don't want to be chopping and changing all of the time.
"When I've had my best results, it's when I have spent good periods of time with coaches, and I'm hoping that's the case next year."