Australian Open: The one that got away from Andy Murray

When Andy Murray’s remarkable career does eventually come to an end he will think back to Sunday’s loss with regret.

Andy Murray during his loss to Mischa Zverev of Germany

When Andy Murray’s remarkable career does eventually come to an end, there will be much to look back on with pride: winning at least three grand slam titles and two Olympic gold medals, helping Great Britain to win a first Davis Cup title in 79 years, becoming world No 1 and more.

But if it is to finish without the Australian Open trophy in his cabinet, he may occasionally think back to days such as Sunday with a tinge of regret. Yes, Mischa Zverev, the world No 50, produced the performance of his life to send Murray packing, but if ever there was a year to bring that search for an elusive title here to an end, then this was it.

Murray has been closer to getting his hands on the trophy, losing in five finals at Melbourne Park. But with Novak Djokovic, his conqueror in four of these championship matches, gone after a shock defeat by world No 117 Denis Istomin in the second round, a major hurdle had been removed from his path.

To be fair, Murray had said that there was still a lot of tennis to be played before the departure of Djokovic would have a direct impact on him as they could only have met in the final. His immediate response just minutes after losing yesterday (Sunday) was to reject the suggestion that this would go down as a squandered open goal.

“Did I miss an opportunity?” Murray said. “I don’t know. Every year you come is a different chance, different opportunity. Still, even had I got through this match, [Kei] Nishikori or Roger [Federer, who later won] are waiting. Stan [Wawrinka] is still in, guys like [Jo-Wilfried] Tsonga.

“You’ve got Roger plus three guys that are pretty much in the top 10 in the world in my half. There’s certainly no guarantees, even if I got through today’s match, that I would have gone further. Yeah, it’s disappointing to lose. I don’t feel like this is any more of an opportunity than other years.”

This will be one of the more bruising defeats, though, as Murray takes the long flight back to London. It was his worst grand slam defeat by ranking since losing to Argentinian Juan Ignacio Chela, then the world No 51, in the first round of the Australian Open in 2006. It was also his earliest exit here since losing to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco at the same stage in 2009.

Murray had never arrived in Melbourne better placed, returning here this time as the world No 1 and taking up the status of top seed at a grand-slam event for the first time. Some might wonder if that added a little extra weight on his shoulders, but Murray flatly rejected that theory.

“I didn’t think about it at all the whole time I was playing in the event and not at all when I was on the court in any of the matches,” Murray said. “Once you get out there, rankings are completely irrelevant in my opinion anyway. That played no bearing on anything.”

Fuelling much of Murray’s motivation as he puts in the hard yards in Miami during his customary off-season training block is to be in peak physical shape for this tournament, but he had taken the decision to start his season by playing at the Qatar Open in Doha, a tournament that offers attractive appearance fees for players of his stature but does not at all replicate the conditions down under. Even in his first press conference here, Murray admitted that the Hopman Cup in Perth, where he had played in the past two years, offered the best preparation.

But while we dig deep for reasons as to why Murray lost early, much credit must be given to Zverev for executing a game plan that he admitted involved trying to “annoy” his opponent.

The 29-year-old German is as well qualified as anyone in knowing how to do this, having been familiar with Murray since their days together on the junior circuit.

Zverev constantly came forward, making a total of 118 net approaches during the match, and repeatedly put Murray, who was struggling for rhythm because of the varying pace of the ball coming at him, in awkward positions around the court. Even though Murray levelled the match after losing the first set, Zverev was still the better player and he stuck with plan A to see out the third and fourth sets for a famous victory.

“Growing up with him, I know his game,” Zverev said. “He was always a counter-puncher, he moved well, he knew how to manoeuvre the opponent around the court. But I knew I could get to him with my game, I knew I could slice a lot, come in, try to annoy him, which worked.”

The influence of his younger brother, Alexander, one of the most talented prospects in the game at the age of 19, has helped Zverev to find his way again after dropping to a ranking of No 1067 in March 2015 because of a series of injury problems.

“I can tell you it wasn’t easy when I came back from wrist surgery two years ago,” Zverev said. “It was my brother who said, ‘You can make it back, you can be top 100 again, be a great player.’ I have to say thank you to him quite a lot.”

Zverev’s reward is a quarter-final with 17-times grand-slam champion Federer, who had some words of hope for Murray’s supporters. “Tough one for Andy but he’ll be back,” Federer said. “I’m sure he’s going to win this.”

The Times