Andy Murray suffered his eighth grand slam final defeat with a 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-4 loss to Novak Djokovic at the French Open.

Five of those defeats have come at the hands of the world number one, who completed his set of slam titles at Roland Garros.

Here, we pick out five areas where Murray will want to improve.

1. Serve

Djokovic is probably the best returner tennis has ever seen so free points are rare and priceless. Murray possesses a strong first serve and had used it effectively during the rest of the tournament but he did not land it nearly often enough in the final. Murray needed his first-serve percentage to be over 60 but instead it only just crept above 50. His second serve is better than it was but still vulnerable and he won only 22 of the 54 points when he missed his first delivery.

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The Herald: PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 05: A dejected Andy Murray of Great Britain looks on following his defeat during the Men's Singles final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia on day fifteen of the 2016 French Open at Roland Garros on June 5, 2016 in Paris, Fra

2. Aggression

Any player who gets drawn into extended baseline rallies with Djokovic invariably ends up coming out second best. Murray's powers of defence are well known but too often he was playing from metres behind the baseline, allowing Djokovic to control the points.

The Serbian rarely misses from that position, while it also meant Murray was expending a lot of energy. In the first set he was managing to get the first strike in more often than not but he could not keep it up.

3. Spend less time on court

Murray should have had an advantage physically given Djokovic had to play four days in a row because of the awful weather in Paris. But that was more than cancelled out by the fact the Scot had spent nearly five hours longer getting to the final.

Surviving rollercoasters has become a Murray trademark but the likes of Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal rarely play five-setters in the early rounds and they reap the benefits later.

Read more: A career Slam for Novak Djokovic . . . and one for Andy Murray, too

4. Press home his advantage

Djokovic is playing at such a high level that any slight advantage has to be held onto like glue. In the Australian Open final last year, Murray appeared the stronger at the start of the third set but could not capitalise, and here he had a break point at the start of the second set when Djokovic was still playing with a lot of tension but did not take it. The Herald: Novak Djokovic, pictured, beat Andy Murray to clinch the French Open title (AP)

It may not have made any difference to the final result, but Djokovic certainly needs no help and Murray must not give him any.

5. Mix it up

Murray has a lot more natural variety in his game than Djokovic and he used it to great effect when he beat the Serbian in the final of the Rome Masters tournament just before the French Open. Because he was on the defensive this time, he was not able to do that.

Murray threw in a few drop shots but not enough to disrupt Djokovic's rhythm and his forays to the net were not nearly as successful as those of his opponent. Making Djokovic uncomfortable is the key to beating him.

Read more: Novak Djokovic defeats Andy Murray to complete tennis's career slam