"People told me I wouldn't be able to play, that was nonsense" - Murray happy to compete despite US Open exit
ATP
Andy Murray tried to be positive after his third-round loss to Matteo Berrettini at the 2022 US Open.
The British player came back from an injury that seemed to be career-ending just recently. Despite the setback, Murray is still playing. Not only that, but he might soon reach his goal of being seeded at Grand Slam tournaments.
The three-time Grand Slam champion might have lost in the third round of the New York Slam, but he wasn't too pessimistic after his loss. On the contrary, he tried to look for areas in which he could improve.
Murray's main issue seemed to be his serve. He couldn't trouble his opponent enough on his serve, which then created many chances for Berrettini. The British player know he mut improve that if he wants to win more matches.
"I served pretty poorly for a large part of the match, which hurt me a lot… I hung in really well in the third set and could see from the stats and stuff that were coming up that when I was getting into rallies."
"I was getting comfortably the better of those exchanges when I got past the first few shots. He served extremely well, got loads of free points on his serve. I didn't. That was the difference."
Despite being close to it, Murray doesn't want to think about retiring at the moment. He knows he's far from his top level, but he found a different kind of motivation. He wants to see how much he can improve despite not being the same player he once used to be.
"I want to push and see how far I can go. I think I'm improving this year. You know, my ranking, I don't even know what I was at the beginning of the year, but I'm now around 40-ish in the world and still going hard."
The former ATP World No. 1 player is motivated mainly by his previous injury struggles. He was told he would never compete again, but against all odds, he's out there and competing.
"That will be motivational for me and interesting to see, because lots of people told me I wouldn't be able to play again, and lots of people told me I'd be able to hit tennis balls but not compete professionally again. That was nonsense, and I want to see how close I can get back to the top of the game. That's what the motivation is."
