Andy Murray Accepts Decline in Grand Slam Performance after US Open Loss to Dimitrov
By Staff Writer
New York – Andy Murray, the 2012 US Open champion, expressed his acceptance that he may no longer have the ability to reach the latter stages of Grand Slam tournaments. Murray suffered a demoralizing straight-sets defeat to Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the US Open.
During the match, the 36-year-old Murray displayed a lackluster performance, losing 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 to the 19th seed Dimitrov. This loss marks Murray’s failure to progress beyond the last 32 at a major tournament in the last six years.
“It’s obviously disappointing, to not play how you would like, you know,” Murray said. He struggled with 45 unforced errors and managed only 16 winners during the match on Thursday, August 31.
Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion and eight-time runner-up, has been unable to replicate his best form due to a series of injury problems that threatened to end his career. Although he missed the Cincinnati Open earlier this month due to an abdominal injury sustained in Toronto, Murray believed he arrived in New York playing at his highest level since 2017.
“I’m aware what I’m doing, it’s unbelievably challenging to play at the highest level as I am now,” Murray acknowledged. “Some days it’s harder than others. But yeah, today is obviously a really disappointing defeat and probably the manner of it as well. I fought hard enough, but just didn’t play well enough.”
Murray admitted that these tournaments are where he aims to deliver his best tennis and create more memorable moments, but he fell short this year. The former world number one has not advanced to the second week of a Grand Slam since reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2017.
“I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level. I enjoy the work. You know, the training and trying to improve and trying to get better, I do still enjoy that,” Murray explained. “That’s what keeps me going. If things change and I stop enjoying that or my results, my ranking and everything, like, if I start to go backwards in that respect, you know, in a few months’ time I was ranked 60 in the world or whatever instead of moving up the way, things might change.”
Meanwhile, Dimitrov, who saved three match points in the first round, progresses to face 2020 runner-up Alexander Zverev for a place in the last 16. Dimitrov expressed his satisfaction with his victory over Murray, as he was expecting a five-set battle.
“We’ve played multiple times, he’s a tremendous competitor. I’m very happy with the fight,” Dimitrov said. The Bulgarian, once ranked third in the world, reached the US Open semifinals in 2019 but had fallen in the second round in each of his past three appearances. He hopes to repeat his 2019 performance and even go further this year.
