Murray vows to return even stronger

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:16

The 21-year-old Scot came into the tournament in Melbourne with many tipping him for the title after a strong finish to 2008 and an excellent start to this year – but he suffered a 2-6 6-1 1-6 6-3 6-4 defeat to Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round on Monday.

“For me it’s not a disaster. I’m still playing well. I lost to a good player in a very close match – I’ll have more chances to win grand slams,” said Murray. “Yeah, I’m disappointed that I lost, but I’ll try and learn from it.”

He added: “I want to win every one that I play, but I’m not going to get down about it. I worked very hard in the off-season. It’s been a good start to the year.”

Murray pointed out that after last year’s first-round loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, he came back better for the experience.

By the end of the year he had played in his first grand slam final at the US Open, he was ranked number four in the world – the best year-end ranking by a British player in the 36-year history of the ATP rankings – and had become the first Briton to claim five ATP titles in a year in the Open era.

“I’ll try and learn from it,” added Murray. “Hopefully I’ll come back a better player. (Verdasco) is a very, very good player.

“Sometimes they play better than you, and he did, unfortunately.

“But, you know, I’m thinking that last year I had a tough loss. This year obviously is a tough loss, as well.

“I came back stronger last year, and I plan to go work on my game and hopefully get better.”

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