Following another setback in his terrible form in Marseille, Andy Murray said he is thinking about joining the ATP Challenger Tour.
The three-time major champion stated that his love for the game of tennis is the reason he is still playing and that no amount of failure will take away from what he accomplished on his good day.
In the first round of the ATP 250 tournament in Marseille on Tuesday, Murray lost 5-7, 4-6 against Tomas Machac, dropping his record to 0-4 in 2024. During a terrible run of form that dates back to September, he has lost his last six competitive games and nine of his past ten.
Murray demonstrated after his loss that being successful in practice does not translate to success on the playing field.
Murray expressed his thoughts in the post-match conference and said: “I’m not going to give up. I will continue to struggle to be at the level I know I can be. The only way to find solutions is to win matches. It can also be played out in training, working on your game and sensations. But what happens in training doesn’t always translate into a match. In 2016, when I finished world No. 1, my coach told me that I had maybe won two or three training sets during the whole year. This year, I won almost all of them and I can’t win a single match. You have to perform in competition; that’s the only thing that counts.”
Murray said that to regain his confidence, he would participate in a few Challenger tournaments, just like he did last year. He further said: “Maybe I will have to play in Challengers. The easiest thing for me would have been to leave my career. But I continue because I love the game; I love to train. At the moment, without a doubt, it is not easy to compete. But what is happening now does not affect my career. No number of defeats will change what I achieved when I was in shape and with two hips. But when you can’t win, you also lose confidence. I’ve never experienced that in my career.”
Andy Murray says no amount of losses will change what he’s achieved, he will play Challengers if necessary, but he won’t give up on doing what he loves:
“Maybe I have to play in Challengers.”
“The easiest thing for me would have been to leave my career. But I continue because I… pic.twitter.com/Kl1o52PHeN
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) February 7, 2024
Andy Murray in 2024
LWLLLLWLWW Ranked no.49, Andy played his last match on the 6th of February when he lost to world no.66 Tomas Machac 7-5 6-4 in the 1st round in Marseille (draw).
Until now, during this year Andy owns a compiled 0-4 match record.
