Andy Murray does not believe he has played well enough this season “to deserve to stay” in the No1 spot for much longer, the Scot admitted following his five-set defeat to Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
It was just the third time in his last 10 Wimbledon appearances that Murray has failed to reach the semi-finals at the All England Club, as he bid farewell to the tournament with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-1 defeat to the 24th-seeded Querrey.
Playing the entire Championships with a sore hip, Murray fought through a difficult fortnight before surrendering to the American. The world No1 has had several tough moments in 2017, and although he won Dubai and reached the Roland Garros semi-finals, his season as a whole has not been up to his standards as he now drops to 25-10 win-loss on the year.
If Novak Djokovic wins the Wimbledon title, the Serb would take back the world No1 ranking from Murray, who had replaced him at the top end of last year.
“It was going to happen at some stage. I don’t think anyone has ever stayed at No1 their whole career. It always comes to an end,” said Murray on Wednesday.
“I haven’t played well enough this year to deserve to stay there for much longer. If it doesn’t happen by the end of this tournament, it will happen by the end of the US Open.
“That’s fine. Obviously I would rather be ranked No1 than 2, 3 or 4. I go away now and try and find a way to get back there. Hopefully I can do that.”
Murray, who won Wimbledon last year and in 2013, came into the tournament with a hip problem, that interrupted his preparation. He seemed visibly in pain towards the end of his match with Querrey.
“The whole tournament I’ve been a little bit sore. But I tried my best right to the end. You know, gave everything I had. I’m proud about that,” said the 30-year-old. “But it’s obviously disappointing to lose at Wimbledon. There’s obviously an opportunity there. So I’m sad that it’s over.”
Querrey upped his serving stats in the final set, and dropped just one point on serve, as he sealed a place in the semi-finals, becoming the first American man to reach that stage at a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick in 2009.
Murray did not think of retiring from the match, despite being in pain.
“I knew I wasn’t going to do any major damage (to my hip) by playing. So obviously wanted to try, if possible, find a way at the end,” said the Brit. “Obviously it wasn’t the case.
“Sam served great. The end of the fourth set and fifth set, felt like he hardly missed any first serves. He was acing me pretty much every time. I wasn’t getting enough power on my serve to put him in any bother there. So he was dictating all of the points.”
The three-time major champion will now go back to the drawing board with his team, and work on returning to full fitness before next month’s US Open.
“Now I’ll sit down with my team and look at the next step, look a little bit longer term. The US Open’s, I don’t know, six, seven weeks away maybe, something like that. You know, sit down with my team tomorrow and come up with a plan for what I have to do next,” he said.
“This year has obviously been frustrating at times. It’s not been the easiest. But, you know, I’ll want to obviously come back and try and compete for majors. Yeah, that’s what I’ll try and do.”
