MADRID – Andy Murray insists he still believes he can win another Wimbledon title despite his losing run continuing with defeat by Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori in the opening round of the Madrid Open.
The frustrated Scot’s 6-2 7-6 (7) loss to a player ranked 164 made it four consecutive defeats, equalling the worst run of his professional career.
Murray was so disillusioned by his performance against Alex De Minaur in Monte Carlo two weeks ago that he indicated he might sit out the rest of the clay season.
He decided against that but this was another demoralising result, with the only positive being how Murray found a way into the match in the second set.
He told reporters in the Spanish capital: “It wasn’t great. I started to play a bit better towards the end but the start was slow. He played very well at the beginning, and he’s serving huge. Some of the errors are hard to explain.”
Murray lost the first four games and went an early break down in the second set against 27-year-old qualifier Vavassori, who is at his highest career ranking.
The Italian was certainly playing well but Murray was making too many unforced errors and was unable to make any headway on his opponent’s serve.
He changed that in the eighth game, breaking Vavassori for the first time, and he took advantage of nerves from his opponent to save four match points in the tie-break only to twice net straightforward volleys.
The one he missed from on top of the net at 6-6 defied belief, and Murray said: “Obviously everyone misses bad shots throughout their career, but I don’t have too many like that.”
It is the first time since 2019, when his hip problems were at their worst, that Murray has lost four matches in a row and, having reached the third round in the Spanish capital last year, the 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon champion is set to drop back out of the top 60.
Given one of the main objectives for the 35-year-old playing on clay was to improve his ranking in a bid to be seeded for Wimbledon, things are clearly not going the way he would have hoped.
Murray is still intending to play at the French Open, adding: “Whilst I feel fit and healthy, I would like to give it a go.
“But I also have ambitions of competing for Wimbledon titles and that sort of stuff and, I know that sitting here today that probably doesn’t sound realistic, but I do believe that that’s a possibility.”
Murray’s defeat followed Emma Raducanu’s withdrawal and another loss for Kyle Edmund.
Edmund is trying to tread the difficult road back to the top of the game after a long spell out with knee problems but has not won a tour-level match this year.
The former British number one’s latest loss was a 6-4 6-1 defeat by former US Open champion Dominic Thiem, who is at last showing more encouraging signs nearly two years after suffering a wrist injury.
British number one Cameron Norrie was handed a first-round bye and will start his campaign against Yosuke Watanuki after the Japanese qualifier beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-3 6-3.
Thiem, who will take on world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas in the next round, said on the ATP Tour website: “I have known Kyle since we were juniors. He has been a tough opponent since the young days, so I went in with a lot of respect.
“I had some crucial moments in the first set when I saved the break points and then I released a little bit and it got better and better.
“Once I was a very tough guy to beat on clay and it is not the case right now, but I am feeling that I am getting better and back to shape.”
British number one Cameron Norrie was handed a first-round bye and will start his campaign against Yosuke Watanuki after the Japanese qualifier beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-3 6-3.
Halep questions long delay in doping hearing
Former world number one Simona Halep has called on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to give her the chance to clear her name after she was provisionally suspended in October for failing a drugs test.
The Romanian former Wimbledon and French Open champion was tested during last year’s US Open and both her A and B samples confirmed the presence of banned blood-booster roxadustat.
Halep strenuously denies knowingly taking a banned substance and says she has evidence which proves low quantities of the anti-anaemia drug entered her body because of an authorised supplement that was contaminated.
In an interview with Tennis Majors, her first since learning of her failed drugs test, Halep said she has so far been denied her right to be heard by an independent court.
“I didn’t want to get out and talk because it was very emotional,” Halep, who at the time described her failed test as the ‘biggest shock of her life’, told Tennis Majors.
“Actually, I couldn’t handle it very well. But now I feel the need to speak out loud to my supporters, my fans, and to the public because I am sure they really want to know why it’s taking so long and I really felt the need to do that.”
Halep says she sent evidence about the contamination to the ITF in December and hoped her case would be heard by an independent tribunal in February but that it was postponed and then a new date in March had also been put back.
“The ITF requested that the hearing on March 24th should be cancelled. I did not agree with that because as the rule says, a player that is provisionally suspended is entitled to get an expedited hearing. Everything takes so long.
“I asked the ITF to lift my sanction to be able to play but they also refused it.”
Halep says she has undertaken 10 tests since her positive result, with all of them coming back negative.
She now hopes to have a hearing in May but fears that may also be cancelled.
“I believe that it’s not fair to spend eight months without even being judged by the Tribunal. Emotionally, the whole period has not been easy,” the 31-year-old Halep said.
“I’m not asking for special treatment. I just ask to be judged. How much longer is this going to take?”
Halep says she has taken heart from the support of the public and her coach Patrick Mouratoglou who she says has stood by her through every step of the process.
She says she is determined to come back and challenge for major titles again.
“It made me feel stronger to come back and work harder to get back to the level that I was at before, and even higher,” she said. “Until now, this is the hardest battle I’ve faced in my life and career. I really want to play again because I love this sport and I want to play for the big titles again.”
