MURRAY: NO SHOCK AT DEFEAT FOR EMMA

FROM NEIL McLEMAN in Indian Wells ANDY MURRAY claims Emma Raducanu’s defeat in her first match after her US Open triumph was not “unexpected”.

But the three-time Grand Slam champion (below) has backed the “unbelievably bright” British No.1 to bounce back from the bumps in her early career better than he did.

The Bromley teenager’s dream month got a rude wake-up call when she lost in straight sets to world No.100 Aliaksandra Sasnovich at the BNP Paribas Open in California.

The world No.22 will now decide whether to play the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on October 18 while the search for a new coach goes on.

Argentine Carlos Rodriguez, who coached former world No.1 Justine Henin, is the leading candidate. Murray shot to fame by reaching the third round at Wimbledon as an 18-year-old wildcard in 2005 when ranked world No.312.

It took him another 27 Grand Slams – including losing four finals – before he won his first Major title at the 2012 US Open.

It was not always a smooth road for the temperamental teenager.

The former world No.1 said: “She’s unbelievably bright and well educated so you would imagine she would be a lot better equipped to deal with everything than most – and deal with it in a more mature way than I would have done when I was 18.

“What happened in New York was obviously incredible but in tennis and sport it doesn’t just go in an upwards direction all the time.

“There’s always little bumps along the way.

“But I think pretty much everyone was sort of expecting that as well. I don’t think it’s anything unexpected.”

Murray beat Adrian Mannarino on Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden immediately after Raducanu’s 10-match American winning streak came to an abrupt end.

Raducanu (top) said she needed to “cut myself slack” after the defeat and said it would be a valuable learning experience.

And Murray agreed: “I think she’s handled herself perfectly. I’m sure as she moves along she will learn how to balance the whole tennis life and commercial life.”

Her fellow British No.1 Dan Evans, who fought back to beat Kei Nishikori in three sets to reach the third round, added: “I think that she said it was a good feeling to get that match out of the way, and that’s probably true.”