Andy Murray Loses in Doha and Flies To Melbourne

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 2nd January 2014

ExxonMobil Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament in Doha

Andy Murray Loses in Doha and Flies To Melbourne

epa04005387 Andy Murray of Britain reacts during the match against Florian Mayer of Germany for the ExxonMobil Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, 01 January 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

Andy Murray left the Middle East behind him this morning and boarded the 14 hours long flight to Melbourne knowing he had not gotten anywhere near the level of match practice he was hoping before showing he was ready to compete with the top players at the Australian Open.

The Wimbledon champion and world no.4 has played a total of six matches so far since returning from back surgery; two exhibition matches in Abu Dhabi, two singles at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and two doubles.

After leading by a set and 3-0 against the unorthodox German Florian Mayer, he looked set for at least a quarterfinal spot in Doha but a lack of stamina and self-belief saw Murray crumble to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, losing 12 of the last 15 games.

Already he has decided against taking a wild card into next week’s Apia International in Sydney, where world no.5 Juan Martin del Potro leads the seeds, and will instead try to get a match or two at the exhibition AAMI Classic at Kooyong and practice with some top flight rivals at Melbourne Park.

“I didn’t have extremely high expectations of doing well this week, because I haven’t obviously played a match for a long time,” Murray said. “So like I say, you don’t know exactly how your body is going to respond. I was playing pretty well and then he started to play better. I felt like I slowed down in the second set, service speed and movement.

“It wasn’t a particular area that was sore, more joints rather than muscles, just a bit sore from changing direction and playing at that level. But I played some good tennis. I did say the only way to feel better is by playing matches. So today was a start.”

The Kooyong event is now owned by IMG who is unlikely to refuse a request from Murray to compete, seeing as the leading players committed to the exhibition are Tomas Berdych and Stanislas Wawrinka. “I can’t see myself going to Sydney,” Murray said. “I haven’t played the week before a Grand Slam for about six, seven years, and my preference is to get to Melbourne early and practice on the courts and get used to the conditions there.

“A lot of the top players don’t play the week before and so you can get some very decent practice in.”

Murray wasn’t the only high profile exit from Doha, third ranked David Ferrer lost surprisingly to 6-4,7-5 to Daniel Brands, which means three unseeded Germans have managed to reach the last eight in Doha.

Mayer, who had previously lost to Murray in all three of their ATP World Tour meetings including at last year’s US Open, said: “To be honest, in my mind, the match was finished at 6‑3, 3‑0. I tried to play more aggressive, tried to risk something more. He missed a little bit more, and was not happy with his game.

“But it’s normal. If you don’t play competition for such a long time, it’s normal that you cannot be 100% at the beginning. You have to play some matches on the level, and I’m sure he will play better from round to round in Melbourne.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, Aami Classic, Abu Dhabi, Andy Murray, Atp, Australian Open, David Ferrer, Florian Mayer, IMG, Melbourne, Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Tennis, Tennis News, US Open, Wimbledon