Former Stuttgart Open finalist Andy Murray started his grass season at the ATP 250 event in the German city and he lost in the opening round to Marcos Giron.
Murray is generally known as a strong grass player, and his record on the surface backs this up. He won Wimbledon twice and achieved a lot on the surface, even in recent years when he wasn't playing near his best.
Things haven't gone well this year, as Murray has struggled to keep up with some of the best players in the world. This is likely why he announced that this year would be his final year on the ATP Tour, something which he confirmed multiple times since that initial announcement.
The grass-court part of the season will be particularly emotional for the Brit, and it started in Stuttgart, where he stood in the final two years ago. He didn't begin his grass season in Surbiton this year like he did last year because he played in Paris at Roland Garros for the final time in his career.
The match in Stuttgart against Giron wasn't very good, as the American was able to beat Murray relatively comfortably. Giron is a tricky player capable of playing some really strong tennis on grass, and he showed that in their match.
Murray doesn't move as well as he used to, which is a problem on a surface where movement can be essential. Another problem was the serve, as Murray couldn't create too much pressure.
He hit it a decent clip but couldn't create too much pressure. He also didn't hit the ball as cleanly as Giron did, which contributed to the loss.
The first set was a 6-3 win for Giron, while he won the second set 6-4, as the American moved to the second round. Murray's showing was simply not good enough to win. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-familiar story for him this year.