Murray slips to world No.8

Originally published on 28/03/14

The Wimbledon champion will drop to world No.8 on Monday after failing to defend his Sony Open title in Miami, falling in the quarter-finals to Novak Djokovic. However, after claiming his first win over a Top 20 player since returning from surgery in January, with victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round, Murray insists he is on the right track.

“I have been able to play for the first three months of the year without too many problems and too many setbacks,” said Murray, who recently parted company with coach Ivan Lendl. “So if someone had told me after the surgery this is where I would be going into April, it wouldn't be too far from where I would have liked to have been.”

 “I'm playing Top 10 tennis, but not maybe Top 4 tennis," he added. "That's obviously where I want to be by the time the French Open comes around, so hopefully in the next couple of months I will improve a bit on that.”

With Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final against Italy in Naples next week, Murray now turns his attention to the clay ahead of the European clay-court swing.

“I think it's probably likely I will stay in Miami for a couple of days, take a couple of days' rest, and then I will probably go straight to Italy,” he said. “I need to get back on the practice court after having a break and see how my game translates onto the clay. I'm getting there."

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