Murray unsure of Wimbledon return after Tsitsipas loss
THE GUARDIAN – Andy Murray was unable to hide his crushing disappointment after his painful second-round loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon and could not guarantee he will play again in the tournament.
After leading by two sets to one in a match postponed on Thursday night due to Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew, Murray conceded the final two sets on Friday to Tsitsipas, the fifth seed, losing 7-6 (3), 6-7 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
“Ultimately this was an opportunity for me,” said Murray. “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 he had no immediate plans to retire but could not be certain about his future. Asked how confident he is that he will return next year, Murray said: “I don’t know. Motivation is obviously a big thing. Continuing having early losses in tournaments like this doesn’t necessarily help with that. Yeah, it’s similar to I guess last year. I had a long think about things, spoke to my family, decided to keep on going. I don’t plan to stop right now. But, yeah, this one will take a little while to get over. Hopefully I find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better.
“Obviously, you never know how many opportunities you’re going to get to play here. The defeats maybe feel a bit tougher.”
During his post-match press conference, which was conducted minutes after his defeat, the 36-year-old appeared close to tears as he digested another bitter, close defeat in a major tournament.
“I certainly can [beat top players],” said Murray. “It’s clear based on how the match went. I mean, there’s only a few points in it today. Like, it’s not just about winning the odd match against them really. To have a run at these tournaments, you need multiple, multiple wins in a row. Yeah, I’ve obviously not done that.”
Djoko through
Elsewhere, reigning champion Novak Djokovic defeated old rival Stan Wawrinka to reach the last 16 and move closer to an eighth men’s singles Wimbledon title.
Djokovic won 6-3 6-1 7-6 (7-5) in a match that finished 14 minutes before the 23:00 BST cut-off on Friday night, BBC reported.
Wawrinka, 38, is a three-time Grand Slam winner, beating Djokovic in two of those finals – the 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open – but had said he had zero hopes of winning the tournament and “no chance” of beating 36-year-old Djokovic.
The Serb dominated the opening two sets, winning them in a total of 67 minutes, dropping only four games while doing so, but Warwrinka produced a better performance in the third set.
But Djokovic, who is aiming to equal Roger Federer’s men’s record of eight titles, ensured his match would not go into extra time as he fought back from 5-3 down in the tie-break to advance into the last 16.
“We are two old guys fighting with the young guns,” said Djokovic. “We have had some amazing battles on the biggest courts. I respect him as a player and he is a really nice guy so I wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”