Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray suffered his earliest exit at the Grand Slam as he lost in four sets to John Isner. Murray wasn’t at his best early in the match and struggled to make inroads against a strong serving display from Isner. Murray said the match was decided on “fine margins” and suggested he hopes to continue playing if his body is fine.
Andy Murray remains determined to improving his ranking enough to be seeded at Grand Slams again after a “frustrating” Wimbledon defeat to John Isner.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Murray suffered his earliest exit at the tournament as he lost in four sets in the second round to Isner, who fired down 36 aces and didn’t drop serve once.
Murray only had two break-point chances in the match and struggled to get a look in many of Isner’s service games.
Isner is the 20th seed at the tournament and will next play 10th seed Jannik Sinner.
“I really want to try and improve my ranking to a level where I’m getting seeded in Slams. That was a goal of mine sort of post Miami,” said Murray, who wasn’t seeded at Wimbledon as he is ranked No. 52 in the world.
“I’ve spoken to my team a lot about that, and that’s something that I want to try and put myself in a position hopefully come the US Open. If not the US Open, then going into the Australian Open next year where I’m seeded again.
“That means obviously I’ll need to be out there competing and winning matches because it does make, like I said, things trickier.
“I was coming into Wimbledon feeling like I could have a deep run. If you’re playing against top guys right at the beginning of the event, obviously makes it a little bit more challenging. That’s kind of what my goals are between now and the US Open.
“I could have had a good run here. One of the reasons why improving your ranking and trying to get seeded is important, avoid playing top players and dangerous guys like that early in tournaments.”
Asked about how long he might continue playing, Murray, 35, added: “It depends on how I am physically. Physically [if] I feel good, then we’ll try to keep playing.
“But it’s extremely difficult with the problems I’ve had with my body in the last few years to make long-term predictions about how I’m going to be even in a few weeks’ time, never mind in a year’s time.
“If physically I’m in a good place, yeah, I will continue to play. But it’s not easy to keep my body in optimal condition to compete at the highest level.”
Murray looked in good form on the grass earlier in the summer as he made the semi-finals in Surbiton and then made the final in Stuttgart.
But an abdominal injury meant he wasn’t able to play Queen’s or any other events ahead of Wimbledon.
Murray, who had won all eight of his previous meetings with Isner, said he felt in a “good place” ahead of the contest.
“I didn’t feel like I was undercooked coming into the tournament. I felt like physically I was in a good place. I played enough matches. I was ready to do well here. But the margins are fine at the highest level.
“I think first few sets I didn’t serve well…He was serving extremely well, as you would expect.
“Then in the fourth set probably lost a game on my serve I shouldn’t have, up 30-0. Missed one or two shots in that game, especially the one on the deuce point, I had a backhand that should never really have missed.
“When I had my opportunities, he served extremely well and didn’t give me lots of chances. When I did get them, I didn’t get many looks at second serves on important moments on his serve.”
Murray also compared his emotions to a year ago, when he was beaten in straight sets by the third round by Denis Shapovalov.
“Last year was difficult for different reasons. I was obviously really looking forward to playing at Wimbledon, but at the same time I didn’t feel like my game was in a position to do well.
“Physically I was not in a good place coming into the tournament last year. I was really frustrated and questioning, like, whether all of the work that I was doing was worth it because my body was still not in a position to feel like I could be competitive against the best players.
“Whereas this year my game was certainly in a better place. Physically I felt good, barring the sort of 10 days post-Stuttgart, which was frustrating.
“Yeah, it’s one of those matches that, had I got through, who knows what would have happened. Yeah, it’s frustrating for different reasons.”
