Andy Murray is out of Wimbledon after fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas emerged victorious in a two-day Centre Court slugfest - and the heartbroken Scot says it will be hard to come back from.
Murray started his second round showdown on Thursday night in shaky form dropping the first set to the Greek in a tiebreak. But he showed some of his trademark resilience to repay the favour in set two before winning the third. The action was then called for the evening with the 11pm curfew just 20 minutes away and it restarted on Friday afternoon following Carlos Alcaraz's victory over Alexandre Muller.
Murray needed just one set to advance and there was nothing to separate them as set four stayed on serve through to another tiebreak....the third of the match already by set four. But Tsitsipas won that to take it to a deciding set.
But it was the Greek who had the legs to go the distance and after an early break in set 5, he held his service games to send a tiring Murray home early. Tsitsipas will face world no.60 Laslo Djere in round three.
It's unclear where Murray, now 36, goes from here as he looked dejected leaving the court. He has previously been reluctant to pin a date on any potential retirement but he admitted after the game that he may find it difficult to come back next year. He said: “This was an opportunity for me to go on a run. I didn’t take it. Murray on how confident he is he will be back next year: I don’t know. The motivation will be there but early losses at major tournaments don’t help with that. It’s similar to last year.
"I had a long think and talk with my family. I don’t plan to stop right now. This one will take a while to get over but I want to find the motivation to go again. I’m very disappointed just now. You never know how many opportunities you’re going to get here. Every year I’ve gone out here it’s been hard.”
Victorious Tsitsipas meanwhile paid tribute to veteran Murray as he said: "It's never easy against Andy. Everyone loves him here. It was a very difficult game. I'm very impressed at how he holds up, having been so many years on the tour and having had two hip surgeries. I'm very impressed with his level today and I wish him all the very best in the future."
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