Murray extends worst-ever run

Straight-sets loss to Machac is Scot’s sixth failure in a row Manner of defeat suggests self-belief may be dwindling

Andy Murray’s horror run continued with yet another defeat – his sixth in a row – as he succumbed to the unheralded Tomas Machac in straight sets in Marseille. This is now easily the worst sequence of Murray’s career.

Murray continues to search far and wide for solutions. In Marseille, his player box featured not only his travelling assistant coach Jonny O’mara, but also noted technical guru Louis Cayer. Yet one often wonders whether Murray’s issues might have less to do with his mechanics than his mind. Take, for instance, the double fault he committed at 5-5, 30-30 in the first set.

Admittedly, this part of his game has been patchy of late, with less than half of his first serves finding their target against Machac. Primarily, though, this crucial unforced error felt like it stemmed from dwindling self-belief.

He would not be the first ageing athlete to lose his mental edge. The double fault soon begat a break of serve. From there, Murray was always swimming against the current. There are moments when he evokes warm memories, conjuring a deft drop shot or a stinging return. But he cannot string enough of these silky touches together to mount a serious challenge.

On paper, Machac was not the worst of draws, as his world ranking of 66 places him around the middle of the Marseille field. He is somewhat undervalued, though: a late developer with serious firepower who has been held back by hare-brained shot selection. Even here, there were some notably bad decisions, but he usually managed to bang down a big serve or a screaming forehand as a get-out-ofjail card on his way to winning 7-5, 6-4.

Murray was already on a careerworst run after his loss to Benoit Paire, the French maverick, in Montpellier eight days previously.

At least he did not have any rankings points to defend in Marseille, but in a couple of weeks he goes to Doha, where last season he pulled off a series of unlikely, back-fromthe-brink victories to reach the final. If one was feeling optimistic, one might be tempted to suggest that Doha will trigger positive memories. Yet there is another side to this coin. Murray’s anxiety levels may climb even higher when he knows a first-round loss will send him tumbling some 20 places down the rankings ladder. At present, he is hanging on inside the top 50 by his fingernails.

Boris Becker, meanwhile, announced that his short-lived coaching stint with Dane Holger Rune had come to an end.

“I realised that in order for this to be successful, I would need to be available for Holger much more than I can,” said Becker, who is subject to various travel bans after his conviction for bankruptcy fraud, and was not present in Melbourne for the recent Australian Open.

“Due to professional and private responsibilities I can’t give Holger what he needs now,” he added.