Murray's US Open Dream Turns Into a Nightmare

Dazed and Confused Murray Knocked out by Wawrinka

For every blockbuster where the Brit has pulled one out of the fire, his defeats of Richard Gasquet and Stanislas Wawrinka at Wimbledon being the two most prominent examples, there are those where he has come up short. Last night was one of those times, just like his loss to Fernando Verdasco in Australia in 2009, or Marian Cilic, this time last year at Flushing Meadows.

In what will rank as one of the most bizarre matches Murray has ever participated in, he was ousted by the 20th seed in four sets, a match that lasted three hours and 54 minutes, and finished just after midnight BST.

When Murray does eventually win a Grand Slam, it will be all the sweeter because of days like this. Only Murray will be able to fully assess his own performance, yet his on court eccentricity, and the level to which his play degenerated to was simply astounding, even more so because it was punctuated by the odd point played to perfection.

A public self-destruction from the World Number Four was not what the spectators expected on the Louis Armstrong Stadium, but that was what they got. Along the way Murray lost the crowd, his head, and full control of his body. "I was struggling physically. I tried to find a way to come back, but couldn't do it. I was disappointed that I hadn't been in that position for a long time physically," he said afterwards.

"I don't think it was a terrible performance today, I don't think I did terribly, it was very different playing a guy in the last round to a guy like Wawrinka, who is a much better player. In the third and fourth sets, I was struggling physically and I got frustrated with that.

Maybe I felt that my chance of winning here was slipping away. It happens to everyone."

The gutsy, never say-die attitude that usually characterises Murray's play was wholly absent, replaced by hours of sullen, moping body-language. There was no sprinting around the court, chasing lost-causes by the fourth seed. Instead, after dropping the second set, one he really should have won, since at one point he was serving for the set, he wandered around the court like a shell shock victim, unable to find any rhythm whatsoever against the big-hitting Swiss. At times he stopped moving entirely in the middle of points, opting not to chase balls.

Yesterday looked like an aberration, although every once in a while he seemed to be on the cusp of rediscovering form, only to lose it going for a drop shot, or hitting a ball long. Whatever was wrong with Murray, perhaps a groin strain, it shackled his serve for the last two sets of the match, and he was stuck shooting 80 mph second serves into the middle of the court, easy pickings for a hitter of Wawrinka's calibre.

Unable to take the initiative in any of his points with his serve ineffectual, he was pegged behind the baseline for most of the match, as the Swiss hit the baseline with his forehand and background with great regularity.

All credit should go to Wawrinka, as he executed his game-plan perfectly against his opponent, but it was Murray who lost the match, rather than the Swiss winning it. Wawrinka, who has failed to reach a grand slam quarter-final, merely had to wait for the right time to attack, and pounce. He will face Sam Querrey in the fourth round, after the American knocked out Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in straight-sets yesterday.

Too many people will enjoy penning their biting postmortem's of this match, as if Murray's career is on the down slope, yet he has proved over the past month, especially in Toronto, that he can compete with the best. Whether a Grand Slam comes sooner or later will depend on Murray's attitude, for what was most disappointing yesterday was not that the Scot lost, but the manner in which he lost. When it eventually ended, and Murray made a speedy exit off court, there must have been palpable relief for British tennis fans that such a tortuous experience had at last drawn to a close.