Andy Murray played another match this year and lost again, staying winless and further fueling reports of an imminent retirement.
The British player has been adamant that he's not going to retire anytime soon, but his tennis is saying something else. It's not like he's not really trying because he is probably trying more than anyone else on the ATP Tour.
He is playing weekly to try to find his best tennis, but it's not working out for him. Australia was pretty much a disaster, and it was difficult to watch for his fans. The Montpellier Open last week wasn't any better because he lost, too, and this week at the 2024 Marseille Open, he ended in the first round as well.
His draw wasn't easy as he got a pretty tricky indoor player in Tomas Machac, who was certainly the big favorite with the way things have been trending lately. He backed it up on the courts by beating the British player comfortably.
The more pressing issue for Murray is that he didn't really look competitive. That's been an issue for him this year as he's yet to win a single match on the ATP Tour, and that's only going to fuel talk about a possible imminent retirement.
When it comes to this match specifically, he struggled in several ways. He was pretty good on his serve, dropping only a few rallies when he hit his first serve. The problem is that he hit it only 49 % of the time, and that was a huge issue for him last year as well.
Serving is one of the few ways he can still generate a lot of pressure, and it is non-existent these days. He also did well on the second serve of Machac, but ultimately, it was not enough to really win the match.
He broke him once but got broken three times and that was not enough. The Czech player therefore won the match in two sets, 7-5, 6-4, to reach the second round.
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