ANDY’S MAJOR WORRY
Croft: The best players are suffering more defeats. The other guys don’t fear them
ANDY MURRAY and other top stars have lost their fear factor going into Wimbledon, Annabel Croft has claimed.
The world No.1 suffered a shock loss in the opening round of the Aegon Championships – and has already racked up the same number of defeats this year as in the whole of 2016.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga yesterday continued the exodus of the big names at Queen’s Club.
And Novak Djokovic has said he will accept a wildcard into the Aegon International at Eastbourne next week as he seeks to regain his wayward form.
Former British No.1 Croft, now an analyst for Eurosport, said: “One of the players said to me that a lot of the guys now feel they can beat the top guys. Everything has changed. They no longer feel scared playing them because there have been more losses.
“Before they’d be quaking, thinking, ‘I hope I don’t get buried out here,’ and, ‘I don’t want to make a fool of myself ’.
“But now there are more players who feel before they go out that they have a shot. It feels like the next generation are coming together a bit more.”
Murray lost to Aussie Jordan Thompson (above) at Queen’s this week and has lost nine times this year – failing to reach the quarterfinals in six of his first 10 events.
In 2016, that happened twice in 17 tournaments. Croft added: “He knows what it took to get to world No.1 and the whole thing has just taken its toll. “He is human, he is exhausted. Then you have a setback with injury and other players think they can beat you. That has a knock-on effect in the locker room.” Pete Sampras lost his opening match in Queen’s Club in 1993 before winning his first Wimbledon title. And Greg Rusedski said: “It’s better to have a hiccup here at Queen’s than to have it at Wimbledon. “The best players time their peaks. Of course he can still win Wimbledon. No question about it. It might just be the perfect tonic for him.”
Murray said: “Fewer matches means more practice, so it won’t change my home life too much in the build-up to Wimbledon.
“My daughter Sophia sleeps from 6.30pm and I leave to practise early, then I’m not back until quite late. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to catch a bit of Peppa Pig somewhere along the line.”
The last time Djokovic played the week before a Grand Slam was in Sydney in 2009.
The world No.4 said: “I am looking forward to fine-tuning my grass-court game at Eastbourne ahead of Wimbledon.”
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares beat Sam Querrey and Gilles Muller in the first round of the doubles 7-6 6-1.