Andy Murray was brutal with the assessment of his performance after finishing his season with a shock first-round defeat at the Paris Masters.
The former world No.1 broke back into the top 50 this season after reaching two ATP Tour finals in the first half of the year. However, after suffering a second-round defeat at this year's Wimbledon the British star said he has made some key training mistakes.
"I just think the reality is I need to work harder," he told the Metro. "I’ve not really done much since the US Open, like, physically in the gym, or anything.
"I’ve done, you know, very, very little. And that’s off the back of not doing a training period off the back of Wimbledon. Maybe one of the mistakes that I made was like playing Newport (a minor tournament after Wimbledon). I could have done a training block there to get in the heat and prepare better for the summer.
"‘From an endurance perspective, that’s something that, for a large part of my career, I kind of pride myself on – being there right to the end of the matches, and being able to maintain a high level physically.
"I haven’t done that at all since… well in any of the tournaments since Wimbledon really, except New York. That needs to change."
Murray's defeat in Paris could have been very different as he served for the match against 37-year-old Gilles Simon. However, playing in his final tournament the retiring Frenchman came back to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in a match which lasted just under three hours.
The British star lost four straight games when serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, allowing his opponent to force a third set before going on to win the match, branding the defeat as unacceptable.
He added: "Having that happen after a set and a half on an indoor court where it's not particularly hot is not really not acceptable. There's no guarantee that I win that match, but when you lose matches, and it feels like it's down to your physicality, it's really, really disappointing.”
Murray has also been thinking about his retirement plans and the 35-year-old said he was aware that he wasn't going to be 'playing forever'.
