Andy Murray: “I am Not Playing Top 20 Tennis”

Former world No.1 Andy Murray suffered a second-round defeat to the seventh seed Alex de Minaur in a thrilling three-setter 6-4, 2-6, 4-6 in 2 hours and 42 minutes at the Zhuhai Championships 2019. The Briton explained that he requires more recovery time for his body as he has started to play many matches since returning from the hip resurfacing surgery.

Andy Murray said in the post-match press conference: “Yesterday was the first time in my entire career that I didn’t practice the day before a match. I was tired after the first round and tried to sort of rest and recover as much as possible, so that was something that I have done differently.”

The three-time Grand Slam champion revealed that he is trying to give more rest to his body between matches than before as earlier, he would have hit the courts and practiced yesterday before the match.

However, playing only the fourth singles match on the ATP tour, Andy Murray is trying to take a bit of break and rest as he has a long schedule ahead, committing to play Beijing, Shanghai, and European Open in Antwerp.

He said: “I’m trying to maybe look at ways to give my body a bit of a break and a rest when I can, which is maybe something in the past that I wouldn’t have done, I would have been in the courts yesterday practicing and stuff.”

The 32-year-old will next head to Beijing to participate at the China Open 2019 before traveling to the Shanghai Masters. The Briton also revealed that he finds difficult to play against the top-70 or top-60 players of the world.

On playing the ATP 500 event in Beijing, Murray said: “The level in Beijing is a little bit higher in terms of the quality of players, so I’m not playing Top-20, Top-30 tennis right now. I’m probably playing Top-70, Top-60, sort of level. So it’s not going to be that easy for me to win matches there.”