Izuchukwu Okosi
Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray on Friday crashed out of the 2023 Wimbledon Open as he lost to world number 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in a five-set victory for the latter at the SW19.
The match was postponed until Friday afternoon after the game was abruptly brought to a halt Thursday night due to the curfew that began at 11pm in London.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelMurray was leading by two sets but Tsitsipas rallied back to claim the victory which might signal the last Wimbledon game for the Englishman.
Murray was understandably frustrated by the manner of his defeat and told the media that the match could be his farewell in the competition.
The defeat was his second consecutive exit at the Wimbledon.’ The British tennis star had made at least the third round in his previous 13 appearances.
Murray skipped the French Open to prepare for the grass court season and won two second-tier Challenger events. But the Scot, 36, has now lost seven out of eight ATP Tour-level matches stretching back to March.
The former world No.1, who is playing with a metal hip, said before his 15th Wimbledon he had not planned for it to be his last.
But asked if he is confident he will be back next year, the world No.40 admitted: “I don’t know. Yeah, motivation is obviously a big thing. Continuing having early losses in tournaments like this don’t necessarily help with that.
“It’s similar to I guess last year. I had a long think about things, spoke to my family and I decided to keep on going.
“I don’t plan to stop right now. But, yeah, this one will take a little while to get over. Hopefully find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better.”
Murray had been seeking his best win in terms of ranking at a Grand Slam since beating world No.4 Stan Wawrinka at the 2016 French Open.
“I certainly could have beaten him today or yesterday,” he said. “I mean, there’s only a few points in it today. Like, it’s not just about winning the odd match against to players really. To have a run at these tournaments, you need multiple, multiple wins in a row. I’ve obviously not done that.”
He added: “I’m obviously very disappointed just now. Obviously you never know how many opportunities you’re going to get to play here. The defeats maybe feel a bit tougher.
“But, to be honest, every year that Wimbledon’s not gone how I would like, it’s been hard.”
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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