Andy Murray was not only disappointed Thursday because he lost at the US Open. The former World No. 1 was discouraged by how he lost, winning only eight games against 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov.
“It’s obviously disappointing to not play how you would like. But maybe I need to accept that, these events, I had the deep runs and everything that I felt like I’m capable of, they might not be there, as well,” Murray said. “I’m aware what I’m doing, it’s unbelievably challenging to play at the highest level as I am now. And some days it’s harder than others. But yeah, today is obviously a really disappointing defeat and probably [because of] the manner of it as well.
“I fought hard enough, but just didn’t play well enough. Ultimately these are the events that you want to play your best tennis in, and create more great moments and didn’t do that this year.”
Murray, who is 13-12 this season, lost by the third round in all three majors he played this year (he did not compete at Roland Garros). The 36-year-old showed good form at Wimbledon, but ultimately fell in a tough five-setter to Stefanos Tsitsipas. In New York, he never was able to battle his way into the match against Dimitrov.
“I think when you don’t play well, obviously it’s frustrating. But it can happen. At the highest level if you don’t play to a high enough level, it’s very hard to win,” Murray said. “Whereas at Wimbledon, obviously when you’re playing at a good level and potentially had a good draw there and everything, that’s tougher to take.”
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The No. 37 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Murray has shown consistency throughout the year, reaching the final in Doha and claiming three ATP Challenger Tour titles.
“I’ve obviously been progressing this year from a ranking perspective,” Murray said. “I had some great matches in Australia. Well, quite a few amazing matches at the beginning of the year really, in Doha as well. I think I was close to — you never know what’s going to happen — but I think I was close to having a good run at Wimbledon.
“I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level. I enjoy the work, the training and trying to improve and trying to get better. I do still enjoy that, and that’s what keeps me going.”
An abdominal strain hindered Murray’s North American hard-court summer, forcing him to withdraw mid-tournament in Toronto and before the tournament in Cincinnati. That played a role in preventing the Scot from earning a seed at the US Open. But Murray is not using that as an excuse.
“If I want to have deep runs in these tournaments, I’m going to have to come up against players like Grigor or Tsitsipas or whoever in Australia, played Berrettini in the first round and Bautista in the third round. These are obviously top players. Obviously being seeded avoids them early,” Murray said. “But yeah, for me it’s more about sort of the level you put out there and the performance and whether I was seeded or not here in the Top 32, then I don’t think that that guarantees that I’m going to have a deep run either.”