Great Britain’s Davis Cup Captain Leon Smith has urged Andy Murray to embrace the positives from the heart-breaking loss against Aussie Alex De Minaur at the 2023 Paris-Bercy.
Smith called Murray as “a bloody good” operator and thought his compatriot did well in the match he lost by a hairbreadth margin.
ATP #13 seed eliminated the tour veteran after an exhausting 3-hour battle for a 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5 win the opener on Monday. Murray looked to win the decider comfortably after securing a 5-2 double break lead but fell short in the last moments to close out the match as eventually blow the lead by losing five straight games.
It was a solid chance to redeem against the Australian who led their head-to-head series 5-0 before the Paris encounter but the things became difficult for Murray after squandering the match-point at 5-2. De Minaur has now dismantled four times in 2023.
The 36-year-old has now lost all of his last six matches against the electric Aussie who has become a generational nemesis of the Brit.
The World #40 has now lost five of his last 6 matches as he tennis calendar concludes for 2023. Following the demoralizing loss, Murray vent the anger on his racquet and admitted that he has not been having fun on court of late.
“I’m not really enjoying it just now in terms of how I feel on the court and how I’m playing. The last five, six months haven’t been that enjoyable, so I need to try and find some of that enjoyment back because playing a match like that there’s not much positivity there,” admitted the Scot.
His countryman Smith could understand Murray’s sentiments given the close nature of matches he has lost this season.
“(On Murray’s comments about not enjoying tennis) I think it’s normal. He’s a bloody good tennis player and he’s trying to find that way because he’s not been far away in some matches,” said the Scot in a recent interview.
“Like, yesterday would have been a really good win. What is ‘Demon’, like 13 in the world? It’s a bloody good win and he’s so close to it and he is getting hacked off on the court because he knows he can do better still. I think it must be difficult.
“The [Stefanos] Tsitsipas match [at Wimbledon] and there’s been moments this year where he could’ve changed things quite a lot by getting over the line in a couple of them and I know he hasn’t and that will really frustrate him.
“I think if you win a bit less, it’s just normal. Where do you get your confidence from? It’s winning isn’t it? I hope he reflects on yesterday because I thought he played some really, really good tennis. From a set and 4-3 down he sort of clicked up a gear.
“He was playing well in the first set, I mean he should have won the first set really as well. But I thought it was what he was doing with the stuff he’s been working on in practice, I thought that was the best – from what I have seen as well – as best as he’s hit the ball and what he was doing with it.
“I thought he was dominating on his forehand from the centre of the court really, really well. I thought he played better when he came forwards at the net than previous. So for me, those two elements were really good. Very aggressive on second serve, returning it.”
Murray has been part of the Great Britain squad for the Davis Cup led by Smith. The team will play the quarterfinal against Serbia later this month, however, after the crushing Paris loss, the former World No. 1 is yet to make a final decision on his participation in the ITF team event.