Andy Murray slumped into the press conference room at Wimbledon, dumping his bags by his feet and lowering his stiff and weary body into a chair. Before shuffling across the stage, Murray believed he had been edged out by Stefanos Tsitsipas in a battle that could have gone either way. After resuming their contest on Friday afternoon, Tsitsipas didn’t allow Murray any break-point chances, raising his level in the fourth-set tiebreak and then again at the start of the fifth. Murray competed until the end, but the fifth seed ultimately showed his class as he denied the Briton a famous comeback.
The disappointment of exiting Wimbledon gets tougher as Murray gets older. The chances are running out and this will hurt more than most because of how close he came. The 36-year-old had the momentum and stood a set away from the third round on Thursday night, when play was suspended due to the 11pm Wimbledon curfew. He returned in the blazing sunshine on Centre Court exactly 10 years to the day since his first Wimbedon title, looking to recreate the magic from a decade ago.
