Andy Murray to face pressure to stick to his word after shooting himself in the foot
Andy Murray’s previous claims could come back to haunt him as the Brit finds himself on a three-match losing streak.
Andy Murray suffered another disappointing defeat earlier this week – this time in the first round of the Shanghai Masters. The Brit now finds himself on a three-match losing streak and could be under some pressure come next year when he has even more ranking points to defend if he continues to struggle for wins. Murray has already claimed that he could end his career if his ranking starts falling and could find himself in a tough spot if his standing does take a dip.
Murray has so far had a disappointing back end to the season after starting the year on a positive note. The former world No 1 won two five-set epics in at the Australian Open in January, including a five-hour and 45-minute comeback victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis that ended at 4:05am.
He backed it up by reaching the final in Doha and went on to win three Challenger titles – Aix-en-Provence, Surbiton and Nottingham. But Murray crashed out in the second round of both Wimbledon and the US Open, and is now on a three-match losing streak following opening-round exits in Shanghai and Beijing, and a second-round run in Zhuhai.
The three-time Major winner will need to find some form by the time the 2024 season begins, as he has already proposed the idea of retiring if he starts to lose matches and fall down the rankings. “I’ve obviously been progressing this year from a ranking perspective,” Murray said after a one-sided defeat to Grigor Dimitrov at the US Open.
