Tennis: Andy Murray fluffs the shootout and crashes out at Queens
Tennis: Andy Murray fluffs the shootout and crashes out at Queens
Andy Murray marked the beginning of the World Cup yesterday by losing his own penalty shoot-out. Let's hope it is not a wider omen for sportsmen from these islands for the coming weeks.
In making a third-round exit from the AEGON Championships here at Queen's the British No 1, who lost a thirdset tiebreak to Mardy Fish after resuming at 3-3 in the decider, was at least in good company as he was swiftly followed out by Rafael Nadal.
But while there are plenty of compensations for the Spaniard in a 7-6, 6-4 defeat to compatriot Feliciano Lopez, such as it providing an opportunity for a much-needed weekend off, the fallout for Murray is less encouraging.
His 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 loss to the American, and the failure to defend his title from last year, was further confirmation that his struggles of the last four months are not over.
The one consolation is that there should not be the same suffocating weight of expectation on him to win Wimbledon this time around. At present he can be rated as no more than a potentially dangerous outsider. In World Cup parlance, the rough equivalent of England - no hidden meaning intended.
Following Murray's limp defeat to Tomas Berdych at the French Open, this was another occasion since the Australian Open in which he has underperformed at a tournament, when compared to the same time last year.
It is not that he is failing to try, nor that he has lost his undoubted physical talent overnight, but he has mislaid that crucial mental edge without which it is impossible to survive deep into the high quality tournaments.
You thought something might have been sparked by the comeback, five-set victory over Richard Gasquet in Paris, but there remains an intangible flatness about his demeanour on court.
Whatever he says, in his heart he will know this and so will the sizeable team around him. It was again plain enough to see in the vital passages of a match which helped to leave the tournament without a star name for finals weekend.
Murray made it known he was not happy when the match was suspended due to marginal light on Thursday evening when he had got back to 3-3, but any subsequent outcome had they stayed on is hypothetical. He lost this match because he went AWOL in his opening service game of the first and third sets and again in the tiebreak. He has lost three out of his last four tiebreaks, a part of the game in which he usually excels. Murray said: 'This wasn't particularly good, but when you get to a tiebreak you play two or three bad shots and you lose the match, which is what happened.
'I haven't been playing my best lately but my game is there, I just need to make sure I find it in time for Wimbledon. I would have liked to have played a few more matches but I've gone into Wimbledon in previous years and done well having not had too many matches going in.
'I'm sure I'm going to be playing much better than I was with 10 more days practising on this surface,' he said, adding that he might play an exhibition match next week.
One could wax lyrical about Fish, about how he hooks or batters opponents, but he is basically a skilled attacking player who has now beaten Murray twice in succession.
He was the more industrious of the two in taking the tiebreak 7-2 and will have relished Murray's insistence throughout on camping out beyond the baseline.
Nadal was less than perturbed by his defeat and did not waste much time before scratching from the doubles and booking a flight home to Majorca for the weekend.
He has not been back there since early March and now is the ideal time to give his sore hamstring a rest and make sure it is not an issue next week. He will return on Monday or Tuesday to begin preparations in earnest.
I'm looking forward to some Majorca weather, see family and friends, watch the World Cup, have some dinner, play some golf. I won't be picking up a tennis racket,' he said.
Today's semi-finals will feature Lopez against Fish, who was back on quickly to beat Michael Llodra and America's Sam Querrey taking on former Wimbledon semi-finalist Rainer Schuettler.
Wimbledon Championships Hospitality
Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:00 Wimbledon Center Court London United Kingdom
Wimbledon Championships Hospitality
Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 11:00 Wimbledon Number One Court London United Kingdom
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