By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday July 7, 2023

Expectations had been excessive, type was good, and the British public was rallying behind two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray.

All the elements had been in place for the 36-year-old to make a run for the ages, as he took the courtroom on Friday with a two units to 1 lead over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Then all of it unraveled, with the proficient Greek taking maintain of half two of their riveting contest to e-book a hard-fought victory.

Like Sisyphus, Andy Murray has rolled the rock up the hill, solely to have it roll again down. He has not reached the spherical of 16 at a significant since 2017.

“Ultimately this was an opportunity for me,” Murray mentioned after his loss. “I had a good chance of having a proper run for the first time in a long time at a slam. I didn't take it.”

Centre Court rises for considered one of its favorite champions 👏

Thank you for one more basic match, @andy_murray.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/2SMMxz1hmg

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2023

"You never know what would have happened"

Never thoughts that the result might need been totally different if Wimbledon’s 11 PM curfew didn’t trigger the pair to cease their match with the Brit main two units to 1. That was the deal from the beginning, and each gamers knew it.

“You never know what would have happened,” Murray mentioned, when requested. “The same result could have happened. We knew that we were only going to be able to play until 11:00. You're kind of playing to a time. It was unlikely if there was any split sets or anything that we were going to finish yesterday. We knew the situation going into the match. That's how it was.”

The subsequent step is unclear

Murray was requested how assured he was in the truth that he would return to Wimbledon subsequent 12 months.

The 36-year-old clearly wants time to recover from the sting of one other heartbreaker, earlier than he plots out his subsequent steps.

“I don't know,” he mentioned. “Motivation is obviously a big thing. Continuing having early losses in tournaments like this don't necessarily help with that. “It's similar to I guess last year. I had a long think about things, spoke to my family, decided to keep on going. I don't plan to stop right now. But, yeah, this one will take a little while to get over. Hopefully find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better.”

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