Murray Keen To Conquer Cramping Issues Following Washington Defeat

Andy Murray is determined to find a solution to his ongoing cramping issues after he struggled physically during his first-round defeat against Mikael Ymer on Monday at the Citi Open in Washington.

The former World No. 1, who also suffered cramping in Newport last month, battled against the Swede in the American heat for two hours and 50 minutes and looked physically drained in the deciding set.

“I [have] struggled a little bit with [cramping] the past two tournaments. I need to have a little look at that with my team and maybe see why that is, make a few changes,” Murray said during his post-match press conference.

“In terms of the training off the court and on the practice court, I’ll have to look at that as well and see if there’s more that I could be doing, maybe different ways of practising to help with that. Scheduling training more in the heat of the day at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. rather than 10 a.m. when it’s not quite as humid, not quite as warm, not quite as helpful. There are a few things I can look at.”

After losing the first set, Murray responded by taking his chances in the second set to level the match at the ATP 500 event. However, the Scot, who admitted he normally enjoys the humid conditions, was unable to match Ymer’s intensity in the third set.

“It was disappointing. I thought there was some good tennis in the first set. After that both of us were struggling a bit physically,” Murray added. “The level of the tennis was not great. I had chances in the first set to close that out. I had set point at 6-5, then three in the tie-break and didn’t get it. [It was] frustrating.”

Murray is now 22-13 on the season across all levels, having reached finals in Sydney and Stuttgart earlier this year. The 35-year-old will look to regain his best form when he takes to court in Montreal next week at an ATP Masters 1000 event he has won twice, including in his previous appearance in 2015.

“The only positive is now that I get more time to prepare for the tournament in Canada. I guess if I can address sort of the physical issue I’ve had the last couple of tournaments, then that would be a positive thing. I obviously need to address that now.”