Former world No.1 Andy Murray exits the Western and Southern Open with mixed emotions after being comprehensively knocked out in the third round of the tournament.
In what was a repeat of the 2016 Wimbledon final at the Billie Jean Tennis Center, Murray fell 6-2, 6-2, to Milos Raonic which also brought to an end his eight-match winning streak against the Canadian. The defeat occurred just 24 hours after the Brit recorded his first top-10 scalp since 2017 after downing Alexander Zverev in three sets. The two contrasting outcomes serves as a wake-up call for Murray as he bids to rise back up the rankings following a string of injury-related setbacks.
“It was poor. I didn’t play well. It was not a good day,” Murray said during his press conference.
“The positives are I got three matches in. Physically, I pulled up okay.’
“I don’t know if it was because I was fatigued or not, but I didn’t feel particularly tired but I certainly was hitting some pretty bad tennis shots. I’m not happy with that level of performance, to be honest.‘
“Clearly I have a lot of work to do on my game over the next few days before the US Open starts.”
During the error-stricken 69-minute encounter Murray struggled behind his second serve as he won just 10 out of 28 points and got broken four times overall. On return points he could only manage to win 28% of them against Raonic, who has also defeated Dan Evans and Sam Querrey this week in New York.
Despite being sidelined from action at the start of this season due to pelvic bruising and also previously undergoing two hip surgeries, Murray says he still has ‘best-in-the-world’ standards that he aims to meet. Questioned as to why he has such high expectations, the Brit says in his view it is the only proper way to prepare for tournaments.
“My opinion is that you should set yourself the best-in-the-world standards for everything that you do because then it means that you’re going to prepare properly for tournaments,” he said.
“You’re going to train hard and you’re going to take care of all of the details because that’s what the best in the world do, whatever job it is. That’s why they are the best.
“So if you do all of that stuff right, that’s positive. And if, on the match courts, you fall short of that I’d rather fall short of the best in the world standards rather than sort of accept, Okay, I’m going to play, you know, 80,100 in the world.”
The focus now switches to next week’s US Open which Murray won back in 2008. More recently, he has only played in the major in one out of the past three years due to physical issues. At the start of 2019 he even contemplated retiring from the sport due to the severity of his hip issue before a second surgery revived his career. But what exactly is it that motivates the 33-year-old to keep playing?
“It’s a challenge playing with a metal hip. It’s not that easy. I have learned lots, learned lots about myself. It’s been a good journey. Hopefully I have inspired some people who have got these issues and might have the operation and to try and show that you can keep going,” he said.
“There were a lot of people that told me I should stop, which probably made me want to do it even more. A few surgeons and things that told me it was done, which annoyed me a lot.”
The US Open will be Murray’s 49th appearance in a Grand Slam main draw.
