Andy Murray says 'demoralising' Monte Carlo defeat to Alex De Minaur was one of the worst of his career

ByEurosport

Updated 10/04/2023 at 17:27 GMT

Andy Murray described his first-round Monte Carlo Masters defeat to Alex De Minaur as "awful" and "demoralising" and believes it was one of the worst performances of his career. Murray lost 6-1 6-3 to the Australian to begin his clay court season poorly, making 26 unforced errors and failing to earn a single break point. Murray is now considering whether to continue his clay campaign.

Highlights: Murray falls to damaging defeat against De Minaur in Monte Carlo

Andy Murray says he put in one of the worst performances of his career in a "demoralising" first-round Monte Carlo Masters defeat to Alex De Minaur.

The 35-year-old produced 26 unforced errors and failed to earn a single break point as he collapsed to a 6-1 6-3 defeat on his first appearance at the tournament since 2017.

Murray’s miserable display sealed back-to-back first-round tournament exits, following a straight-sets loss to Dusan Lajovic at the Miami Open, and he was furious with his efforts in Monaco.

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“It was awful. Nothing was good about it. I don't know exactly why that was. Obviously I didn't play a great match in Miami. And this was worse than that,” Murray said to The Herald.

“I didn't do anything well, didn't serve well, return well, forehands, backhands, shot selection. It was one of the worst I've played in my career, probably.

“I had a match like that last year in Doha against (Roberto) Bautista (Agut) that was pretty bad and maybe one or two others in my career, but in terms of how I felt on the court, it was right up there, just across the board.”

The newspaper reported that Murray was considering whether to continue the clay-court season, despite telling Eurosport that he intended to play in Madrid, Rome and potentially Roland Garros.

Monte Carlo marks the start of the clay campaign in Europe, but Murray surprised himself with his level of performance on the slippery surface.

“I was feeling optimistic coming into the clay,” he said.

“I'd been feeling good with my body the last 10 days or so considering I've not played much on it.

“I was feeling good and I'd actually been moving pretty well in practice, so I was optimistic. But it was pretty demoralising and I've not felt like that many times in my career on the court. It was really tough.”

The next ATP 1000 tournament on the calendar is the Madrid Open starting on April 26, while the Rome Masters starts on May 10.

The highlight of the clay court season is the second Grand Slam of the year at Roland-Garros, which begins on May 28.

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