Life has changed for Murray – Croft
Fatherhood has affected Andy Murray’s form, according to former British number one Annabel Croft.
The 28-year-old world number two lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the third round of the Miami Open.
Murray returned to action earlier in March after becoming a father but made an early exit from Indian Wells.
“Life has just changed for him and he’s just trying to regain momentum, but at the moment it’s a bit of struggle,” Croft told BBC Scotland.
“He [Murray] hasn’t played a lot of tennis this year. He took time off when his wife had their first baby,” she added.
“He looked tired and emotionally drained. It’s something that we never, ever throw at Andy that he could lose a match for a lack of fitness.
“I know he had his family over in Miami. Having had three children myself, you know that if there’s a baby in the house you can’t get away from it and if it’s crying at night, your sleep is going to be a little bit disrupted.
“He’s probably a little bit more drained in every area and suddenly there’s a lot more to think of off the court than there has been in the past. So, I definitely think it’s affected him.”
‘Way too many unforced errors’
Two-time Grand Slam winner Murray led Bulgarian Dimitrov 3-1 in the deciding set before losing 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-3.
“He will be very disappointed with the loss because he’s below par and he’s not at the level that we’ve come to expect from Andy Murray,” Croft said.
“Probably most disappointing of all for him was the fact he had a lead in the final set and let it slip.
“When you think of Andy Murray, he’s such a great warrior on the court. He very rarely loses real tussles like that and it’s happened a couple of times recently.
“There were way too many unforced errors for him – I think it was 50-plus.
“To give Dimitrov his due, he played a fantastic match, he didn’t go away and he competed well against Andy.”
World number one Serena Williams was another big name to bow out early in Miami, losing 6-7 (3-7) 6-1 6-2 to Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.
“There is so much depth in the game now and if you’re just slightly off your game, these players can come along, open up their shoulders and swing freely at the ball. They have no pressure, they can just go for it,” added Croft.
“Anybody who knows about pressure knows that is the hardest thing – how to play when the pressure is on you.”