Murray remaining positive despite French Open final defeat

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  • Beaten finalist: Andy Murray.

    Andy Murray may have just suffered a fifth consecutive grand slam defeat to Novak Djokovic but the British world No2 does not lament the fact that his career has coincided with the Serb’s.

    With one week just separating them in age, Djokovic now stands with 12 grand slam titles, just five away from Roger Federer’s record of 17, while Murray only has two major trophies to his name, the last which came almost three years ago.

    But Murray feels no bitterness towards fighting the likes of Djokovic, Federer or Rafael Nadal for a share of grand slam glory.

    “Obviously the guys I have been around the last few years have made things difficult for me. I have been close-ish to winning all of the slams now and, you know, unfortunately all of them have done it instead,” said Murray following his four-set defeat to Djokovic in the French Open final on Sunday.

    “But I guess I’ve got a few more years to try and do that. I think when I finish I will be more proud of my achievements maybe.

    “None of the big events I have won have I done it without beating one of those guys, you know, or a couple of them.

    “So, yeah. Maybe when I finish playing, you know, my achievements will mean a little bit more.”

    Murray has faced some rough crowds throughout his fortnight in Paris, particularly during his clashes with French players Mathias Bourgue and Richard Gasquet, and in his last two matches against Stan Wawrinka and Djokovic.

    The 29-year-old was gracious enough to thank the crowd for the atmosphere they created during the final, without mentioning how biased they were to Djokovic.

    Later in his press conference, Murray was asked if he was disappointed that the spectators were rooting against him.

    “That was obviously tough. But, you know, I handled it well, I think, for the last couple of weeks considering. Hasn’t always been easy, but I handled it well and I’m happy with that,” said Murray.

    “Wouldn’t have done anything differently, really. And, yeah, it was good for me. It was good to go through things like that, as well, in your career. You know, it toughens you up a little bit.

    “When I go back to playing at Queen’s and then Wimbledon the atmosphere will be a lot different. It will give me a boost, for sure.

    “What Novak achieved today is something extremely special, and a lot of people would have wanted to have seen that and been a part of that. He deserves the support he gets.”

    Murray admits his serve let him down in the last three sets of the final and said Djokovic cut down on his errors significantly as the match went on.

    But having reached the French Open final for the first time after almost exiting the tournament in the first round when he was down two-sets-to-love to Radek Stepanek, Murray can still be proud of his accomplishments in Paris.

    “Obviously difficult just now to know. I’m very disappointed. You know, from 13 days ago I maybe would have signed to have been in this position. I was struggling. I was a couple of points from going out of the tournament in the first round,” said Murray.

    “But then when you get there obviously you want to win. I didn’t do that today. Right now I’m very disappointed, but obviously the tournament could have been quite different had I gone out in the first round.”

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