Andy Murray makes big statement on his tennis future after crushing Australian Open loss

Ewan West 15 Jan 2024 10:33 AM

Andy Murray waves as he leaves the court at the 2024 Australian Open

Andy Murray has admitted it is “definitely a possibility” he has played his last Australian Open after his one-sided defeat to Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

The three-time major winner reflected that he wished he “involved the crowd more” and struggled to explain his “very flat” performance after “feeling good” ahead of the tournament.

Murray produced a disappointing display as he fell to a 4-6, 2-6, 2-6 defeat to world No 32 Etcheverry in the opening round of the 2024 Australian Open on Monday.

After a competitive opening set, Murray did not have another break point and was broken twice in both the second and third sets in a convincing loss to the 24-year-old Argentine.

The world No 44 has now lost seven of his last eight matches at tour level stretching back to September last year and has lost his last four.

Speaking in his press conference, Murray, who looked emotional as he left the court, suggested he may have played his final match at the Melbourne Grand Slam.

“I mean, definitely. Definitely a possibility. Yeah, it’s a definite possibility that will be the last time I play here. And yeah, I think probably because of how the match went and everything, I don’t know,” the 36-year-old Brit said.

“Whilst you’re playing the match, you’re obviously trying to control your emotions, focus on the points and everything. When you’re one point away from the end, you’re like, I can’t believe this is over so quickly, and like this.

“Yeah, in comparison to the matches that I played here last year, it’s the complete opposite feeling walking off the court. Yeah, wish I involved the crowd more. Just disappointed with the way I played and all of that stuff, so… Yeah, tough, tough way to finish.”

Moving 🔛

Tomas Etcheverry flies into the second round, defeating Andy Murray 6-4 6-2 6-2 💪#AusOpen • #AO2024 pic.twitter.com/dfYQGmkQvI

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 15, 2024

The former world No 1 also lamented the flat nature of his performance and explained he had felt in a good place heading into the Australian Open.

“Yeah, obviously disappointed. Well, not much went right, to be honest, from the beginning. I had maybe a small chance in the middle of the first set. Yeah, it was a poor performance. It was, like, very, very flat,” Murray assessed.

“It was an amazing crowd out there that were… Yeah, I felt like they were trying to pick me up, support and get behind me. Usually I would always engage the crowd and get them going and bring some energy into the match. It was, yeah, really just a flat performance.

“I don’t know exactly why that was the case because I’ve been feeling good going in. Played pretty well in Brisbane. Practised really well the last 10 days or so. Don’t know.”

In his on-court interview, Etcheverry said: “It was an incredible match for me. It’s very tough to play a legend like Andy. He’s one of my idols.

“We played twice last year. It was a long battle like this. Today I played incredible. I hope I can continue with this level in the next match.”