Originally published on: 10/08/11 10:03
Andy Murray was at a loss to explain his poor showing in Montreal yesterday after falling to a shock defeat to Kevin Anderson at the Rogers Cup.
The two-time champion won just four games in a 6-3 6-1 loss to the South African despite a positive build up to the tournament that saw him take ten days off after the Davis Cup ahead of a fortnight’s training in Miami.
“Sometimes you can make mistakes with your preparation, but I’ve done pretty similar stuff to what I’ve always done coming in here,” said Murray. “It’s just a really bad day. It’s happened to me a couple times this year and also last year as well.
“I just felt very slow,” added the Scot. “Today I couldn’t get anything going. I started both sets really, really badly which doesn’t help against someone that serves like Kevin. Every time he came to the net, I was a bit late getting to the ball. I was getting behind very early in all of the rallies and didn’t move particularly well.”
The 24-year-old Scot will remain at No.4 in the rankings, despite losing ground on world No.3 Roger Federer after dropping 1000 points as a result of his first round defeat.
Anderson, meanwhile, was surprised by how swiftly he rounded out victory.
“It was probably not exactly what I was expecting,” admitted the Johannesburg native. “At the same time I think some of the way I played, the way I served today, I think I did make it pretty tough for him. I felt I came forward very well and I executed very well.”
Anderson had lost 6-1 6-1 6-2 to the Dunblane dangerman in their only previous tour meeting at the Australian Open in 2010.
“I’ve played him a couple years back and he beat me pretty bad. I knew what I had to do today. I thought I came out and played really well, played the way I wanted to play. It feels great, obviously. He’s a great player.”
At 6’8”, Anderson is one of the tallest men on the ATP Tour. In the latest issue of tennishead magazine, we speak exclusively to the 25-year-old Johannesburg native to find out how his height has impacted on his development in the game.
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