Andy Murray admits ‘my attitude was poor’ after European Open exit
Andy Murray has admitted that “my attitude was poor” after he bowed out of the European Open in Antwerp with a straight sets defeat to Diego Schwartzman. Murray, back at the scene of his last singles title in 2019, was unable to make the most of an early lead as Schwartzman won 6-4, 7-6 (6) in two hours and 13 minutes.
The Argentinian had the luxury of a first-round bye on Tuesday while Murray fought his way into the last 16 with an epic victory over Frances Tiafoe which lasted almost four hours.
“I didn’t make as many good decisions as I would have liked in the second set dealing with adversity,” Murray said. “Mentally I was poor and my attitude was poor on the court.
Murray struck the first blow against Schwartzman to break for a 3-1 lead and the Scot’s serve was not troubled until the Argentinian fought back in the seventh game. Murray saved a second break point with an ace, but it was third time lucky for Schwartzman who broke, levelled and then surged ahead. Schwartzman saw out the first set by winning a fifth consecutive game.
Murray held serve at the start of the next set by saving two break points but Schwartzman’s did break for a 3-2 lead, before Murray showed his resilience once again to level at 4-4.
Both players then led in a thrilling tie-break which saw no less than five break points but Schwartzman clinched victory with his second match point.
Continuing his comeback less than a year after hip resurfacing surgery, Murray now plans to play at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna next week and November’s Stockholm Open. Murray could also play at the Paris Masters in-between, possibly as a wildcard or entering the qualifying stages.
“There’ll be a decision on the final Paris wildcard on Monday, but I might even play the qualis there,” Murray said. “Sport is a results business. Play well or poorly doesn’t really matter if you lose matches. You need to be winning. That’s what I want in the last few tournaments. They are really strong tournaments and there are no guarantees the results will come, but I want to win more matches.”
Emma Raducanu has meanwhile announced she will play on the WTA tour in Austria next month. The US Open champion, who is down to appear in next week’s Transylvanian Open, said in a video posted on Twitter: “I’m very excited to be coming to the Upper Austria Ladies Linz tournament this November. Hope to see you there.”
The Upper Austria Ladies Linz event will be played from 6-12 November. The 18-year-old British star pulled out of this week’s VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
Raducanu has played only one match since she shot to international stardom with her victory at Flushing Meadows last month, suffering a second-round defeat to Aliaksandra Sasnovich at the BNP Paribas Open.
After losing 6-2, 6-4 to Sasnovich at Indian Wells – which came 27 days after her US Open triumph – Raducanu said she needed to “cut herself some slack” as she comes to terms with her new life as a grand slam champion.