Three-time Major champion and former world no. 1 Andy Murray conceded for the first time that perhaps he needs to accept, internally, that deep runs at Major tournaments are no longer possible after being soundly beaten in straight-sets (6-3, 6-4, 6-1) by a familiar face in Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday. The 36-year-old hasn’t reached the second week at a Grand Slam for six years.
Murray: These are the events you want to play your best
Dimitrov [19] bt. Murray 6-3, 6-4, 6-1
- Grigor Dimitrov held firm after an enthralling first eight games in set one, outlasted an old rival with a barrage of backhand slice shots and variety
- 32-year-old reeled off 32 winners to Murray’s 16, and 11 less unforced errors (45-34) in just shy of three hours on Arthur Ashe as the Brit
- “I’m very happy with my performance, was honestly expecting five sets so reminded myself constantly that I was here for the long haul and settled more after that. I’ve played Andy multiple times, he’s a tremendous competitor and an amazing guy,” Bulgarian said in on-court interview
- Jack Draper is the last man standing for Great Britain and faces Andrey Rublev [8] on Monday, after Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie suffered defeats on Saturday before Katie Boulter was bested by Peyton Stearns
- “I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level – training, trying to improve – that keeps me going. If things change and I don’t enjoy it, or my results… rankings go backwards… if I was #60 or whatever and going the other way in a few months’ time.” Murray explains in press
Grigor Dimitrov’s US Open campaign was ended overnight in four sets by Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, but the point still stands: Andy Murray is tired of losing early in Grand Slam tournaments, whether his ranking’s improving or not.
That’s what it’s about, for a fiercely ambitious 36-year-old whose return from a seemingly career-ending hip injury has been akin to a rollercoaster ride with twists and turns aplenty. Achieving fleeting moments of magic are nice, but he wants more.
“It’s unbelievably challenging but the manner of this disappointing defeat… I fought hard but didn’t play well enough – these are the events you want to play your best, create more great moments, I didn’t this year.”
The level of familiarity between Dimitrov and Murray is not lost on most in tennis circles: Grigor’s recently hired two of Murray’s coaching team – Dani Vallverdu and Jamie Delgado – so there are no secrets or hidden tactics up the sleeve either.
On what didn’t feel right during a defeat that quickly mounted on him despite an encouraging start, the two-time Olympic titlist said:
“I created loads of chances on return, didn’t break serve enough or serve well – got broken at the beginning of each set – could never get any scoreboard pressure really, just didn’t play well enough.
He obviously moves very well, not easy to finish points off that [backhand slice] shot, the goal when someone slices is to put them under pressure and find areas of the court rather than looking to hit winners.
If you don’t serve that well, you don’t get chances on the third ball [of a rally] to finish points, which is usually when I would move forward earlier in points behind my serve.”
It’s true that Murray has produced some inspired tennis and played amazing matches at times this year, but crucially hasn’t been able to sustain it.
He accepted as much, dating back to his two thrilling five-set victories in the opening rounds at the Australian Open before Roberto Bautista Agut ousted him in R3.
Despite reaching the Doha final before falling short against a fellow former world no. 1 in Daniil Medvedev the following month, his progression has been stop-start.
Since losing to Jack Draper at Indian Wells in mid-March, Murray has:
Four first-round defeats at Masters 1000 level
Second-round exits at two Majors
Lost to de Minaur (Eastbourne) and Taylor Fritz (Washington)
Won challenger events at Surbiton and Nottingham on grass
R1 loss in Bordeaux vs. Stan Wawrinka
Rome, May 10: Fabio Fognini
Won a challenger event on French clay in May
Madrid, Apr. 27: Andrea Vavassori
Monte-Carlo, Apr. 10: Alex de Minaur
Miami, Mar. 22: Dusan Lajovic
“If I want a deep run, I’m going to have to come up against players like Grigor, Stefanos Tsitsipas [Wimbledon], Matteo Berrettini, top players.
Being seeded avoids them early but for me it’s more about the level you put out there, the performance, whether I was seeded or not, I don’t think that guarantees [a deep run] either but you can see possibilities as the draw opens up in the bottom half, doesn’t matter if you don’t play at a good enough level.”
Picture source: Getty Images
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