Andy Murray walked out of Wimbledon with the Centre Court cheers ringing in his ears, a fistful of big tournament invitations in his back pocket and the sure-fire knowledge that his life is never going to be quite the same again.

Murray may despair at not quite being able to drag his broken body over the finishing line and into the fourth round against David Nalbandian on Saturday, but he is heading for the place he wanted to be all along.

The 18-year-old Scot has improved his world ranking by over 100 places to sit on the brink of the world's top 200 and, provided he sustains his new ranking in the weeks to come, he will gain automatic entry into qualifying for the US Open in August.

More importantly, his dazzling displays at the All England Club which culminated in his truly epic 6-7 1-6 6-0 6-4 6-1 defeat by the 18th-seeded Argentinian Nalbandian have opened the door to the big time.

Funding, sponsorship and invitations to play top-tier ATP tournaments such as those in Rhode Island and Gstaad in the week after Wimbledon have already arrived and more will surely follow for a player who proved more in defeat than most do in victory.

''I want to play in the big tournaments and I think I proved to myself that I can do it now,'' said Murray. ''I think my life will change quite a lot after this week and I think maybe it deserves to a little bit because I did very well.

''It's not every 18-year-old playing in his first grand slam who gets to the third round and takes an ex-finalist to five sets.

''Just walking off Centre Court, knowing that I lost a match and the noise the crowd gave me, made me feel like I almost belonged there."

Nobody who watched Murray's defeat on Saturday would dismiss the notion that their nerve-endings are set to be frayed by Murray for plenty more years to come.

This was not another false British tennis dawn under leaden SW19 skies: Murray's performance in the first two sets against a man considered by many to be among the best current players yet to claim a grand slam title bordered on the unbelievable.

Playing in only his seventh top-level tour match, and expecting nothing more than a defeat after sweeping unexpectedly through his first two rounds, Murray overcame early nerves to out-rally the Argentinean and seize the advantage with a break in just the third game of the match.

In the second set, Murray was simply majestic, outplaying his opponent at his own game and moving to the brink of a victory which would have gone down in Wimbledon history alongside some of the greatest by a British player.

But for injury and exhaustion, which had plagued him at the point of victory against Thomas Johansson at Queen's Club two weeks ago, Murray would surely have been coveting his most famous win and a place in the second week.

As it happened, after blatantly coasting through the second half of a third set which had clearly slipped from his grasp, Murray had a good court-side stretch and raised himself for one final, superhuman effort in the fourth.

An early break of serve gave him the advantage but Nalbandian battled back to level at 4-4. It was then Murray had his chance, fashioning three break points which, had he converted, would have left him serving for the match.

Instead they slipped by, the second in most unfortunate circumstances when a Nalbandian forehand was declared out by a line-judge before the same official rightly corrected his call.

Murray's fleeting chance passed, his young legs simply refusing to extend his odyssey even further, and carrying him into a deciding set which all who witnessed it knew could only ever have one possible outcome.

''After I got broken in the second game of the fifth I knew it was going to be very difficult because I couldn't move,'' added Murray.

''I couldn't move and I was struggling to serve because I just couldn't get any power in my legs at all - I was really, really tired."

Nalbandian, who had never previously come back from two sets down to win a five-set match, paid tribute to Murray afterwards, saying: ''I think he lost the match for the physical problems. I think he has to keep going with the physique."