Andy Murray Exit Gives Donald Young And Sam Querrey Opportunity At Queen’s Club

Written by: Staff on 22nd June 2017

Andy Murray Exit Gives Donald Young And Sam Querrey Opportunity At Queen's Club |

By Ricky Dimon

This year’s AEGON Championships have been wide open ever since the first round concluded. The top three seeds–Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, and Milos Raonic combined to win a grand total of zero matches. Murray lost to Jordan Thompson, Wawrinka was dealt a tough first-round draw and fell to Feliciano Lopez, and Thanasi Kokkinakis upset Raonic.

Murray’s ouster, of course, was especially surprising. After all, the world No. 1 had been 30-5 lifetime at this tournament with five titles. He triumphed at Queen’s Club in 2013 before winning Wimbledon that year and he also accomplished the aforementioned double in 2016.

Things have not been easy for Andy Murray in his encore season on the heels of having finished a year at No. 1 in the world for the first time in his career in 2016. He is just 21-9 with a single 500-point title in Dubai.

“(It’s) a big blow, for sure,” Murray admitted after losing to Thompson 7-6(4), 6-2. “Obviously this tournament has given me great preparation in the past, and when I have done well here, Wimbledon has tended to go pretty well, too. (It’s) not ideal obviously, but guys have in the past also gone into Wimbledon having not won lots of matches…. But it certainly would have helped to have had more matches.”

The Scot had some matches under his belt prior to this week–just not on the right surface. He showed signs of turning around a mostly disappointing by reaching the French Open semis before getting outlasted by Wawrinka in five sets.

Now Murray’s sights are set on the season’s third major.

“If I play like that, I certainly won’t win Wimbledon,” he said of his Queen’s Club defeat.

With many of the top players already gone, a slew of other contenders must remain focused on the task at hand as opposed to turning attention toward the All-England Club. Among the eight quarterfinalists are two Americans–Sam Querrey and Donald Young. Querrey put an end to Thompson’s runs in three sets and will face occasional doubles partner Gilles Muller on Friday. Young set up a showdown against Marin Cilic by beating Nick Kyrgios and Viktor Troicki without dropping a single set.

Next up for the Atlanta, Georgia native is Cilic–who won this title in 2012.

“I don’t feel any extra pressure or any more confidence,” the Croat said after hammering Stefan Kozlov on Thursday. “I’m just focused on my own things, my part of the court, trying to do that well. I’ve been playing well really since the clay season started…. But I still have to work to improve some areas of my game and maybe get better day after day.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.

Topics: AEGON Championships, American Tennis, Andy Murray, Donald Young, milos raonic, Queen's Club, Sam Querrey, Sports, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis News