It is typical of a sport where no two days are ever the same that, 48 hours after stating he was playing his best tennis in six years, Andy Murray produced his worst grand slam performance of the season, tumbling to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 defeat against Grigor Dimitrov, the 19th seed, at the US Open.
Over the course of a year that has brought an extraordinary recovery from two sets to love down against Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Australian Open, and a barely less epic performance against Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon, Murray has shown that, whatever he may have lost to age and a metal hip, his resilience and resourcefulness on the big stage remain undiminished. For once, though, the 36-year-old was unable to pull a rabbit out of the hat, unable to summon an improbable fightback against the odds.
For that, Dimitrov deserves much credit. The Bulgarian, a semi-finalist in New York four years ago, came into the match with a clear game plan and executed it to perfection, using his sliced backhand to deny Murray pace and drawing 45 unforced errors from the 2012 champion in the process. In Dani Vallverdu and Jamie Delgado, Dimitrov has two of Murray’s former coaches on his team; plainly the 32-year-old made full use of their inside knowledge.
“Yeah, of course,” Dimitrov replied when asked in his on-court if his coaches had offered insights into Murray’s game. “But at the same time, they were coaching against me as well [when they were with Murray], so there’s no secrets between the two teams.
“You have a team around you to help you with everything that you’re going through, whether it’s on or off the court. Unity makes power.”
Murray could certainly have done with such help. “I need something!” he screamed towards his team midway through the set, imploring them to lift him after dropping serve to love with two double faults and a pair of missed forehands. Yet the Scot was often his own worse enemy, conceding his serve at the start of each set and failing to capitalise on the chances that came along on Dimitrov’s delivery. The most notable such opportunity came at the end of a 33-shot rally wide in the eighth game of the second set, when he missed a backhand pass to squander a break point that would have put him back on serve.
A flat performance was followed by a similarly downbeat press conference.
“It’s obviously disappointing to not play how you would like,” said Murray. “Maybe I need to accept that [at] these events, the deep runs and everything that I felt like I’m capable of, they might not be there.
“I’m aware what I’m doing, it’s unbelievably challenging to play at the highest level as I am now. Some days it’s harder than others. Today is obviously a really disappointing defeat, and probably the manner of it as well. I fought hard enough, but just didn’t play well enough.”
Perhaps surprisingly, after labouring for almost five hours to get past Slovakia’s Alex Molcan in the previous round, Dimitrov looked the fresher of the two. Murray, who won his opener in straight sets against Corentin Moutet of France – albeit in just under three hours – was up against it from the outset and needed all his signature stubbornness merely to avoid falling behind by a double break. Yet, having survived a 15-minute service game, he broke back to level at 2-2 and began to mount some serious resistance. It would not last.
It has been seven years since Murray and Dimitrov last crossed swords, and as the pair took 47 minutes to play the first seven games, it briefly felt as though it might take that long again merely to settle the opening set. Instead, Dimitrov seized control, a fact Murray attributed to a poor serving performance and the fact that he converted only two of his nine break points. Equally perplexing, though, was his failure to come to terms with the tactical challenge.
“It was death by a thousand slices for Andy, because he likes to counter-attack, and he had nothing to work with,” said Martina Navratilova, analysing the effect of Dimitrov’s decision to slice 84% of his backhands in her punditry role for Sky Sports. “He was forced to create the pace.”
Two games from the end, when Murray gestured towards his team to signal that his challenge was over, one half wondered whether his career might also be done. Yet, with his ranking at 37, the highest mark he has achieved since undergoing hip resurfacing surgery four and a half years ago, the Scot is not ready to quit just yet. Murray continues to take pleasure in his craft, although he admitted that could change were his progress to stall.
“I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level,” said Murray. “I enjoy the work. The training and trying to improve and trying to get better, I do still enjoy that, and that’s what keeps me going.
“If things change and I stop enjoying that, or my results, my ranking and everything, start to go backwards – if, in a few months’ time, I was ranked 60 in the world or whatever instead of moving up – things might change.”
One thing that is most certainly changing, as Murray acknowledged, is the pecking order at the top of the British game. That point was underlined by an impressive 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 win for Britain’s Jack Draper over Hubert Hurkacz, the Polish 17th seed. Draper’s recent return from a three-month injury layoff was thrown into fresh doubt last week when he pulled out of a tournament in Winston-Salem, but on this occasion it was his opponent who struggled. Hurkacz complained of feeling unwell and called for medical attention in the third set, but that is to take nothing away from the strength of Draper’s performance. In Murray’s eyes, the 21-year-old has a stronger claim for inclusion in the British Davis Cup team due to compete in Manchester in less than a fortnight’s time.
“The plan was to play Davis Cup but, if I’m being honest, the other guys deserve to play ahead of me,” said Murray. “I know it’s probably a difficult situation, obviously, for Leon [Smith, the British Davis Cup captain] with Jack. He’s had quite a few injuries coming in, but if he’s fit and healthy, he’s obviously playing very well.
“Cam [Norrie] and [Dan Evans], you know, Evo has had a great run in Washington. So we’ll see about Davis Cup and what happens there. I think there is probably a chance that I’m not on the team.”