Andy Murray still confident after bowing out early from the French Open – Tennis News
After continuously reaching the final-four stage at previous five Grand Slams, Andy Murray of Great Britain was surprised by the sixth ranked, David Ferrer, in the quarter-finals at the French Open.
"I think it was a good tournament for me. Coming in, I probably wasn't feeling as good as I did coming in last year. I believe I lost to a better clay-court player than me," Murray said after losing to Ferrer.
The world number four, who is one of the most consistent players on the ATP World Tour, is counted as a part of elite group of ‘Big Four’ but unlike the other three players i.e. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Murray
has not won even a single Grand Slam in his career.
Some tennis fans were expecting even before the start of the match that Ferrer will prevail over the Brit, as the former is enjoying supreme form these days and Murray’s game has gone down in recent times. The top British player
was also suffering from a back pain even before the start of the tournament.
To be honest, I even doubted his chances of reaching the quarter-finals. In his fourth round contest against 17th seed, Richard Gasquet of France, the Brit badly lost the opening set but bounced back to win in four 1-6,
6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
The Brit had his best clay court season last year, when he reached the Roland Garros semi-finals for the first time. He was defeated by none other than the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, in an evenly contest match.
However, Murray could not perform at the desired level throughout this year’s clay court swing. After last year’s high performance, it was expected from the Brit that he will improve but he went down in 2012.
The right-hander, who lost his fourth straight match against Ferrer on clay courts, said, "I'll need to work on some things in my clay-court game for next year. But it's not the first time he's won against me on clay. It was going
to be a tough match for me, and it proved that way.”
Luck was also against Murray this year, as was facing the best player out of the top four in the semis. He said, "But I won against Juan Ignacio Chela in the quarter-finals last year, and obviously this year I was playing against
Ferrer, so it was a slightly different match-up."
The Brit will now prepare for the Wimbledon by playing at the AEGON Championships in London.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: