Andy Murray believes he still has the game for a deep run at the Grand Slams, despite the earliest exit of his Wimbledon career last night.
Murray crashed out of the second round in four sets after being beaten by 20th seed John Isner and has set his sights on getting seeded to help his cause and avoid the danger men in the early rounds of future slams.
The 35-year-old insisted the loss against the big-serving American did not alter his target of getting to the business end of the majors once more.
“I don’t see why tonight’s match should change that view,” he said in the aftermath of the 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 defeat. “I was coming into Wimbledon feeling like I could have a deep run.
“Now I really want to improve my ranking to a level where I’m getting seeded in slams. That was a goal of mine post-Miami. I’ve spoken to my team a lot about that, and that’s something that I want to try — and put myself in a position hopefully come the US Open.
“If not the US Open, then going into the Australian Open next year where I’m seeded again. That means I’ll need to be out there competing and winning matches. If you’re playing against top guys right at the beginning of the event, obviously it makes it a little bit more challenging. That’s kind of what my goals are between now and the US Open.”
Murray had never tasted defeat against Isner before last night, but none of their eight previous on-court meetings had come on grass and none had taken place since he underwent surgery on his hip three-and-a-half years ago.
Isner hit 36 aces and 82 winners in all, while Murray struggled to find a way past the American, bar a blip by his 37-year-old opponent in the third-set tiebreak.
Murray had faced a fitness race ahead of Wimbledon after suffering an abdominal strain, which he was adamant caused him no problems against Isner.
But it left him unable to serve for 10 days after the Stuttgart Open, which proved to be the weakest part of his game in his two rounds here. In the first set against Isner, his first-serve percentage was just 44.
“It’s frustrating, because I was in a good place with my game,” Murray added. “But I felt good physically on court. Last year was difficult. Physically, I was not in a good place coming into the tournament.
“I was really questioning whether all the work I was doing was worth it, because my body was still not in a position to be competitive against the best players.
“This year, my game was in a better place. I could have had a good run, so it’s frustrating.”
