London: Despite pushing World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas to the brink in the second round of Wimbledon, Andy Murray is taking no consolation from five-set defeat, saying that he was very disappointed and it will take a little while to get over the loss.
Tsitsipas came out firing and clawed past two-time champion Murray 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 in a gripping match to reach the third round at Wimbledon for the third time in four hours and 41 minutes on Friday.
“I’m obviously very disappointed just now. You never know how many opportunities you’re going to get to play here. The defeats may feel a bit tougher. But to be honest, every year that Wimbledon’s not gone how I would like, it’s been hard,” Murray said in his post-match press conference.
The 36-year-old Murray arrived at the All England Club boasting results from this season that showed he could compete against the world’s best. At the Australian Open, Murray saved a match point to upset then-World No. 14 Matteo Berrettini in a dramatic five-setter.
Last month, Murray won back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles on grass in Surbiton and Nottingham. The Scot then returned to the Top 40 of the ATP Rankings for the first time since 2018.
Murray was aiming to reach the third round at Wimbledon for just the second time since 2017, but relinquished his chances at defeating the fifth seed Tsitsipas. The Greek struck 90 winners to take a 2-1 lead in their Lexus ATP Head to Head series.
To Murray, it was not a surprise he was so competitive with one of the tournament’s top seeds.
“I certainly could have beaten him today or yesterday. I obviously earlier in the year had a great win against Berrettini… It’s clearly based on how the match went. There’s only a few points in it today, it’s not just about winning the odd match against them. To have a run at these tournaments, you need multiple wins in a row. I’ve obviously not done that,” Murray was quoted as saying by the ATP Tour.
The 46-time tour-level titlist Murray was leading Tsitsipas two-sets-to-one Thursday when play was suspended for the day at 10:38 p.m. The decision was made to stop the match given that a conclusion before the 11 p.m. curfew was very unlikely. The three-time major champion does not think stopping the match and resuming play on Friday altered the outcome.
“It seemed like a reasonable time to stop. You never know what would have happened, the same result could have happened. We knew that we were only going to be able to play until 11. You’re kind of playing [against] time,” he said.
“I didn’t necessarily think it was appropriate to keep going because it was highly unlikely we would finish the match unless someone was to win the set. It was unlikely someone was going to win that set in 20 minutes or 19 minutes, whatever we had left to play. We knew the situation going into the match. That’s how it was,” he added.
Murray has enjoyed several magical moments at Wimbledon, where he boasts a 61-13 record and was crowned champion in 2013 and 2016. The Glasgow-native also won the gold medal at SW19 at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. The former World No. 1 is disappointed he was unable to thrill the home crowd with a five-set victory Friday evening.
“Obviously it’s brilliant to play in great atmospheres. It makes playing the matches more enjoyable and creates certainly better memories. Ultimately this was an opportunity for me. I had a good chance of having a proper run for the first time in a long time at a slam. I didn’t take it. Regardless of the atmosphere and those things, it’s still very, very disappointing to be sitting here right now,” Murray said.
“I don’t plan to stop right now, but this one will take a little while to get over. Hopefully (I will) find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better. Motivation is obviously a big thing. Continuing having early losses in tournaments like this doesn’t necessarily help with that,” he added.
(IANS)
