Murray: "I'm Sad That It's Over"

The mind was willing, but the body was not. Top seed Andy Murray dropped his Wimbledon crown on Wednesday after struggling with hip issues in the latter stages of his quarter-final loss against Sam Querrey, but made every effort to not blame the injury for his defeat.

Instead, he was full of praise for the aggressive play from the American. Murray said that Querrey’s game is tailor made for grass, but that he’s also made adjustments to utilise his strengths even further on the surface.

“I think he’s played well this tournament. He’s looking to be aggressive. With the strengths and power that he has, it gives him the best chance to do well in these events,” said Murray. “When he’s serving well – I think going into the match he was averaging 25 aces a match – it maybe allows him to be a little bit freer in the rest of his game and go for his shots.

“He’s coming forward a bit more than he used to in the past. He’s certainly competent at the net and makes his volleys. He’s a big guy up there,” he added. “That’s the main difference I saw in his game.”

But despite Querrey’s excellent tennis, it was also clear that Murray was having hip troubles in the final two sets. Even though Murray still put up impressive stats through his four victories this fortnight and came within a set of the semi-finals, he hinted that he struggled physically throughout the tournament.

However, Murray said once he knew playing through the pain wouldn’t affect his plans for the American hard-court season, he wanted to do everything possible to defend his Wimbledon crown.

“I knew I wasn’t going to do any major damage by playing. We were looking at short-term solutions because you want to play Wimbledon. You want to play all of the Slams and give your best effort there,” said Murray. “I managed to get through a bunch of matches and did okay. Now I’ll sit down with my team and look a bit longer term, come up with a plan for what I have to do next.

“I’ve been a little bit sore the whole tournament, but I tried my best right to the end. I’m proud about that,” said Murray. “It’s disappointing to lose at Wimbledon. There’s obviously an opportunity there, so I’m sad that it’s over.” 

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The hip injury isn’t new for Murray, but he had been taking two ice baths per day in recent weeks to combat the stiffness. The Brit received treatment for a hip injury during Wimbledon in 2015 and he admitted the issue has been ongoing.

“I’ve been dealing with it for a very long time during my career. Obviously as you get older, things are a little bit tougher to manage than they are when you’re younger. There’s a bit more wear and tear there,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll be able to get through it moving forward. I just need to do all of the right things and be even more diligent and professional than I have been recently.”

Murray will turn his attention to rest and recovery, but said one thing he won’t be focusing on is potentially losing his top spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He would have remained No. 1 with a win over Querrey, but Novak Djokovic can reclaim that position if he takes the title this week.

With a mountain of points to defend in the second half of the season and a disappointing 2017 so far by his lofty standards, the Brit somewhat surprisingly said it was a question of when, not if, he would lose the No. 1 ranking. 

“I haven’t played well enough this year to deserve to stay there for much longer. If it doesn’t happen by the end of this tournament, it will happen by the end of the US Open,” he said. “That’s fine. Obviously, I would rather be ranked No. 1 than No. 2, 3 or 4. [If I lose it], I’ll try and find a way to get back there. Hopefully I can do that.”