MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Andy Murray was standing in the corner of the Margaret Court Arena with his hands on his hips and facing the stands as he drew the Australian Open one set at a time. The spectators jumped up, shouted, raised their fists and waved Scottish blue and white flags.
Fans, and even Murray himself, may have thought in that moment, “Let’s do it again!”
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But there were no thrilling five-setters for Murray and his supporters. It doesn’t end past midnight. No classic somersaults. now. No, the wear and tear of his two endless performances before him have only worn the 35-year-old and his hip replacement. Murray lost 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-4 to Roberto Bautista his Agut in the third round, ending with a series of blisters and back pain.
“You can’t always control the ending. Murray, who was a five-time finalist at Melbourne Park and won three Grand Slam titles, said. “But yeah, I was disappointed.”
The duel lasted just three and a half hours, which seemed too short compared to two exhausting meetings that took over ten and a half hours this week. He then knocked out Tanasi Kokinakis in five sets in the second round in a duel that began Thursday night and ended shortly after 4 a.m. Friday.
Murray has been sleeping since 6am. Then at 9:00 a.m., he returned to the venue to drain the beans, returned to the hotel, took a nap, then reported to the court and hit the ball for about 15 minutes.
He got off to a slow start against Bautista Agut on Saturday, pushing to take the second set but then fell apart. Murray received a standing ovation after the match.
“Andy received a lot of love today,” said Bautista Agut, 24, after the win. “Hopefully next round will have me a little bit.”
The two have met six times, including Bautista Agut’s Australian win in 2019, a year after Murray underwent the first of two hip surgeries.
Since then, he’s been wondering if it’s worth the job to be competitive again. I asked
“I want to say goodbye to playing this kind of tennis, competing in the biggest events against the best players in the world, and doing my own justice,” Murray said.
