By Tony Fairbairn at Wimbledon
- John Isner [20] def Andy Murray 6-4 7-6(4) 6-7(3) 6-4
- Andy Murray provided an honest assessment of the result and performance as he suffered his earliest ever exit from Wimbledon
LONDON, ENGLAND – Here are three things learned from Andy Murray’s second round defeat to John Isner at Wimbledon.
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It was a tough evening for Andy Murray as he suffered his earliest ever exit at Wimbledon on Centre Court after a four set defeat to John Isner. The three-time grand slam champion couldn’t maintain a high level consistently to overcome the big-serving American who produced a monstrous 36 aces during the match.
Murray’s defeat is a significant one in his career as once again the Brit struggles to breakthrough into the second week at grand slams. This being his earliest exit from Wimbledon shows that winning best of five set matches consistently may be a difficult task for Murray as he looks to be consistently fit. Baring that in mind here are three things learned from Murray’s defeat on Wednesday evening.
Tennis is about fine margins
As so often is the case in tennis and in sport the result of matches are dictated by fine margins and that was the case for Murray on Centre Court. Murray’s injury after Stuttgart cost him further match practice and also a chance to further improve his serve which is what cost him against Isner with the American producing a ridiculous serving display himself.
This is something that has prevented Murray from being seeded at tour events and grand slams, which is something Murray will need to address if he wants to reach the top of the sport again. After the match in his press conference Murray denied being undercooked for Wimbledon and expanded on tennis being about fine margins:
“I think first few sets I didn’t serve well. I was serving, like, I think — saw it come off the board, I don’t know if it was after two sets, but 47% first serves. That certainly didn’t help me the first two sets,” Murray told the press.
“I mean, I wasn’t undercooked in terms of I had lots of match play and I got to practice a lot. I didn’t serve particularly well tonight. That could be something to do with not getting as much reps in pre-tournament. It could be nothing to do with that. I could have served badly regardless of that. I’ll never know.
“So, yeah, I didn’t feel like I was undercooked coming into the tournament. I felt like, like I said, physically I was in a good place. I played enough matches. I was ready to do well here. But, yeah, the margins are fine at the highest level.”
Murray will look to improve the serve and bring it to a consistent base as he searches for a further climb up the rankings.
Murray admits missed opportunity
Another thing learned is that this was a missed opportunity for Murray to make a deep run at a grand slam. There is certainly frustration as the Brit recognises that he may not get too many opportunities with a draw like this again. Speaking to the press Murray recognised that this was a frustrating loss given where his game was at for the event and compared where he is now to where he was before last year’s Wimbledon:
“It was frustrating, and it didn’t help. I was in a really good place physically and my game was in a good spot,” Murray said.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating because I was in a good place with my game. That didn’t help. I mean, the positive is that physically I was fine during the matches. It was touch and go kind of on the Wednesday, Thursday before the tournament in terms of how I was going to be. But I felt good physically on the court. I just couldn’t quite get the win today.
“Physically I was not in a good place coming into the tournament last year. I was really frustrated and questioning, like, whether all of the work that I was doing was worth it because my body was still not in a position to feel like I could be competitive against the best players.
“Whereas this year my game was certainly in a better place. Physically I felt good, barring the sort of 10 days post-Stuttgart, which was, like I said, frustrating. I could have had a good run here. One of the reasons why improving your ranking and trying to get seeded is important, avoid playing top players and dangerous guys like that early in tournaments.”
Murray will hope there is some consistency in a physical and tactical sense as he hopes that he will be seeded for grand slams in the near future. The former champion’s frustration is clear having had low expectations last year, he was ready for a deep run this year but it wasn’t to be and that’s something Murray will reflect on over the coming weeks.
Optimism remains strong
Let’s look on the positive side though and Murray’s optimism for his on-court future still remains strong. The former champion remains confident of returning to Wimbledon and furthermore believes he can reach the latter stages of grand slams. Speaking to the press conference Murray spoke about how he still believes he belongs on the big stage and looked ahead to his short-term goals:
“I mean, I think most of the players on the tour would tell you that a match like that was won or lost based on a few points here and there. I didn’t play well enough on those points tonight,” Murray responded when asked if he can still compete at the latter stages of grand slams.
“Yeah, look, he’s a difficult opponent to play against. Like you say, I obviously played well against him in the past. Yeah, tonight’s match, I don’t see why it should change that, change that view really.
“Physically I feel good, then we’ll try to keep playing. But it’s extremely difficult with the problems I’ve had with my body in the last few years to make long-term predictions about how I’m going to be even in a few weeks’ time, never mind in a year’s time. If physically I’m in a good place, yeah, I will continue to play. But it’s not easy to keep my body in optimal condition to compete at the highest level.
“I really want to try and improve my ranking to a level where I’m getting seeded in slams. That was a goal of mine sort of post Miami. I’ve spoken to my team a lot about that, and that’s something that I want to try and put my position — put myself in a position hopefully come the US Open.
“If not the US Open, then going into the Australian Open next year where I’m seeded again. That means obviously I’ll need to be out there competing and winning matches because it does make, like I said, things trickier. I was coming into Wimbledon feeling like I could have a deep run. If you’re playing against top guys right at the beginning of the event, obviously makes it a little bit more challenging. That’s kind of what my goals are between now and the US Open.”
Murray will look to get back on track in the US hard court swing and with minimal points to defend, there a plenty of opportunities for him to get seeded before the last grand slam of the season gets underway on the 29th of August.
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