June 12, 2024 Andy Murray, ATP Tennis Players, British Tennis Players, Tennis News, Tennis Tournaments
Andy Murray has began his grass court season with a straight sets defeat, and the Brit has admitted that his ‘game needs to improve’ as a potential final Wimbledon looms.
Murray was defeated by American Marcos Giron, 6-3 6-4, at the Stuttgart Open to mark his fourth consecutive singles defeat
Giron comes through 🙌@marcos_giron93 takes out Murray 6-3 6-4 in Sttutgart!@boss__open | #BOSSOPEN pic.twitter.com/YqfTxSKDoT
— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 11, 2024
The three-time Grand Slam champion has not been able to break serve in any of his last three matches, which is something that he appeared disappointed in when speaking to press after the match.
“I’ve been struggling with breaking serve. I’ve not broken for a few matches and that’s usually been a strength of mine,” explained Murray, who could not take any of his three break point opportunities against Giron. “On a quick surface like grass, the sets are tight. When your chances come you have to be clinical – he was and I wasn’t.
“My game needs to improve, the level of tennis on the tour is high. I need to play better if I want to win more matches.”
Andy Murray has been very open about the fact that it is ‘likely’ to be his final summer as a professional tennis player, with it being revealed earlier this week that he would be playing doubles at Wimbledon alongside brother Jamie Murray for the first time.
https://x.com/the_LTA/status/1800097135423377835
And despite the poor run of form for Andy Murray, he did play down any injury concerns after withdrawing from the Surbiton Challenger event last week due to a back issue.
“I’ve had some tough months, but physically I feel OK just now – the ankle, the back,” revealed Murray. “It’s all felt better since going onto grass.”
Andy Murray is now set to head to Queen’s for the final time of his career, with the record five-time champion expected to receive a wildcard for the tournament taking place next week.
Inside the baseline…
It is certainly not the start to the grass court season that Andy Murray would have hoped for, with the three previous defeats on clay more expected. And things are not likely to get easier for the former world No.1 next week, with Queen’s holding a stronger field as a prestigious ATP 500 level event, increasing the chances of Murray getting a tricky first round draw as an unseeded player. Hopefully Murray can find some of the form and confidence that has made him such a force on the grass over the years, with maybe one last run at Wimbledon coming up.
