"I’ve not been doing enough work to perform at the level I need to" - says Andy Murray
ATP
Andy Murray has admitted he still has aims to return to the top of the men's game despite a disappointing end to 2022.
The Scot started the year in fine fashion, reaching the final of the Sydney International, and hopes were high he could win his first tour title since Antwerp in 2019.
But only one other final in Stuttgart was reached in a season the three-time Grand Slam champion looks back on with regrets.
Early exits from the Swiss Indoors and Paris Masters ended any hopes of Murray being seeded for the Australian Open and he admits his body let him down in the second half of the year.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Murray said: "I was pretty downbeat with the last few months. The last seven or eight tournaments, I had issues with cramping and I’ve never had that consistently. So, I’m extremely disappointed.
“I can deal with losing a tennis match as it’s a difficult sport and you sometimes don’t perform as well as you’d like but there’s no excuse for being let down physically.
“My reflection on the last four or five months is that I’ve not been doing enough work to perform at the level I need to. I need to change that if I want to get back to the top of the game.”
The 35-year-old is already making plans for 2023 and has vowed to push his body to its limit to get to where he wants to be.
He added: "I’m positive about next season and the work I have to do. I’ve already started some of that and I need to empty the tank in the next six to eight weeks in the gym and on the practice court.
“I was 130-140 in the world at the start of the season and I’m now inside the top 50. For most players, that’s a really positive year. For me, I don’t view it that way but I did make progress.
“There’s no guarantee I would have won those matches without the cramping but I feel there would have been potentially deeper runs.
“I played quite a lot of tournaments from Wimbledon through to the end of the season. From an endurance perspective, I didn’t cope that well but there’s not been the injuries and niggles, which hasn’t been the case the last few years.”
