Andy shows the old fire’s burning

ROW WITH RIVAL AS HE HEADS HOME

Andy Murray’s sarcastic parting shot at Fernando Verdasco as he left the us Open tells you that the former world no 1 has lost none of his abrasive edge when it comes to competition.

and their spat over whether or not the spaniard illegally communicated with his coach during the 10-minute heat break provided an interesting sideshow in the course of a compelling second round match. Beyond the finger pointing, however, the main takeaway from Murray’s 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat is that it may not be long before he is back in the top 50.

nor should the various barbs traded obscure the fact that, on the back of Wimbledon, this has been another deflating Grand slam for British tennis, exposing a continuing lack of depth among both sexes. It is the worst collective showing since the 2013 French Open.

Murray’s farewell Instagram post to new york insisted that Verdasco did speak to his coach in MIKE DICKSON Tennis Correspondent at Flushing Meadows the course of having a mid-match ice bath, while the 31-year- old scot (below) took a shower.

‘I’m off to a get a health check as apparently I’ve started imagining things #liarliarpantsonfire,’ he wrote.

Verdasco, who appeared to give a summoning gesture to his box as he walked off court, admitted that he saw his coach nacho Truyol in the locker room but denied speaking to him, which is against the rules.

Last night tournament officials suggested that it was unlikely the matter would be taken further and that no disciplinary action was pending. The reality is that, whoever is right, it was not why Murray lost. Indeed, the row probably helped him as nothing fires him up more than harbouring a sense of grievance. He played some excellent tennis in the second and fourth sets and should probably have won the first. as this was against a seasoned campaigner ranked 32 in the world it encourages the belief that regaining a place in the top 50 is a realisable ambition in the short to medium term. ‘What I can see is that he’s not with the same confidence when he was top four, the serve is not with the same confidence,’ said Verdasco, who also struggled with minor physical deficiencies which are a legacy of his own hip surgery. ‘What you can see, moving to the forehand, is he has more pain. Kind of like he’s scared of the hip.’ Murray’s next stop is likely to be the davis Cup tie in Glasgow versus uzbekistan. He has committed to playing aTP events in shenzen and Beijing after that and will then decide about the rest of the season.

While not officially committing yet, the changing of the davis Cup format means this could be one of the few remaining chances he will get to play in scotland.

With Cam norrie losing one minute after Murray — 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to serbia’s dusan Lajovic — the five GB singles players were out by early evening on the first Wednesday.

aside from Jo Konta, they did not have especially fiendish draws and Kyle Edmund will curse the virus which has hindered him twice this year.

a reasonably promising clutch of younger female players and the returns of dan Evans and James Ward may bolster the British challenge over the next year.

Murray is cautious about his long-term prospects, but if he keeps some sort of serviceable fitness level he ought to be rising quicker than any of them.