Andy Murray admits he is ‘not enjoying’ tennis after repeatedly smashing up his racket in a painful first-round Paris Masters defeat to Alex de Minaur.
The former world No.1 had been on a resurgence this year, lifting three ATP Challenger Tour titles and surging up the rankings to climb back inside the top 40.
But the 36-year-old, who plays with a metal hip after career-saving surgery, has seen his form dip since the US Open in August, suffering a disastrous Asian swing.
Murray looked set to resume his mission to become seeded for the Australian Open in January with a win over Yannick Hanfmann in Basel last week – but fell in the next round to Tomas Martin Etcheverry – before an opening Paris Masters exit to De Minaur on Monday, arguably his most galling defeat of the 2023 season.
Murray was leading 5-2 in the deciding set against the Australian world No.13 – who has become somewhat of a bogey player for the three-time Grand Slam winner – and the British legend even had match point before losing 7-6 4-6 7-5.
He repeatedly smashed his racket in frustration and after the match, Murray admitted that he is struggling to find any form of enjoyment from the sport.
‘I’m not really enjoying it just now in terms of how I feel on the court and how I’m playing,’ two-time Wimbledon champion Murray said after losing to De Minaur, who is the boyfriend of British No.1 Katie Boulter.
‘The last five, six months haven’t been that enjoyable so I need to try and some of that enjoyment back because playing a match like that there’s not much positivity there.
‘When I play a good point, I’m not really getting behind myself and then in the important moments, that will to win and fight that has always been quite a big, big part of my game…
‘If I want to keep going, I’m going to need a lot of work. It’s not just going to be like one or two weeks of training to get me to where I need to get to, it’s going to have to be a lot of work and consistent work to give myself a chance.’
Meanwhile, one player who certainly is enjoying his tennis at the moment is Murray’s old foe and current world No.1 Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic returns to action at the Paris Masters on Wednesday, his first singles tournament since landing his 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open.
In the build-up to his return, Djokovic has spoken about his rivalry with Rafael Nadal, who is still ruled out with a long-term injury, insisting they are ‘not friends’.
Nadal appeared to upset Djokovic earlier this month by claiming the Serbian would have been frustrated if he did not win more major singles titles than his peers.
Djokovic, speaking about Nadal this week, said: ‘He’s not really my friend but we have respect for each other.
‘I hope that after our career we can have a drink on the beach, talk about life.’
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