Sir Andy Murray has insisted that he is happy with his start to the new year despite suffering a "tough" defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Qatar Open final.

The world number one saw his run of 28 consecutive victories come to an end in the Middle East, as he fell to a 6-3 5-7 6-4 loss against the defending champion.

Murray now heads off to Australia for the first Grand Slam of 2017, but he admits that losing the latest battle in his ongoing war with Djokovic - the man he replaced at the top of the men's singles rankings at the end of last year - will take some time to recover from physically.

"It's a tough one to lose," BBC Sport quotes him as saying. "It was high level tennis; some of the points were physically tough. But it's still a great way to start the new year and I look forward to the next few weeks."

Djokovic has never lost to Murray after winning the opening set of a match, with this their 36th meeting.