Andy Murray planned to play quite a few events after the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters, but his bad performance in the first round left him unsure about the plan.
Murray elected to skip clay events in the past years due to his playstyle not being the best fit on the surface and preserving his health. He did play Madrid last year and did okay but that court is quite a bit faster than these slower ones and de Minaur demonstrated today why Murray largely avoided the slower ones.
It was an easy win for the Australian, 6-1, 6-3, with the performance leaving Murray very disappointed. Speaking after the match, the former world no. 1 admitted to not having any expectations but after some solid practices he was quite hopeful of a good outing but this wasn't it.
I’m pretty disappointed with it, to be honest, because I practised well last week. Obviously, I didn’t have high expectations going into the first tournament, I wasn’t expecting to play amazing tennis or feel great on the court, but certainly when you put a certain level of work in and that’s the performance that comes at the end of it, it’s pretty demoralising.
The loss had another effect on Murray as he is now unsure whether he should continue to play on clay. Madrid could be a decent option for him but Rome doesn't play that much differently from Monte-Carlo and he would not like to repeat a performance like this again.
I have to have a long think about things with my team and what I do from here. There’s not really any options tournament-wise. Last year, we had looked into the possibility of playing potentially some hard court Challengers. But with the way the rules are now, like the ones that are over in Asia, for example, I can’t go and play them during Madrid and Rome. I’m not allowed to play elsewhere.
He couldn't share much about his schedule at this very moment because he simply doesn't know. The defeat was still heavy on his mind during the interview and perhaps when he cools down he'll still opt to play a few. Maybe Madrid if nothing else.
So it’s just whether I play the clay court season or whether I miss it. I have to have a long think about things with my team and what I do from here, in terms of where I train or do I stick on the clay. It was, it was pretty, pretty disappointing.
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