"Flat" Murray bemoans Ancic defeat in Barcelona
Wednesday, 30 Apr 2008 12:41
Andy Murray blamed poor performance on a lack of motivation
Out-of-form Briton Andy Murray has blamed a lack of motivation for his second-round defeat to Mario Ancic at the Barcelona Open.
The misfiring 20-year-old described his performance as "flat" against the Croatian, who is ranked outside the top 50 players in the world.
Murray's ranking has slipped in recent months, despite winning two of his first three tournaments of the season earlier this year.
The Scot is currently 19th in the world, having been inside the top ten for much of 2007, and has suffered a number of disappointing results in the last few weeks.
Murray blamed on a lack of motivation for his 4-6 4-6 defeat to Ancic at a tournament for which he accepted a wild card and a first-round bye.
And this is likely to worry the player's fans, who have seen him lose matches with lacklustre and unfocussed performances in the past.
"I didn't get that fired up for the match," he said afterwards.
"I was flat. I was going to be here practising anyway, so I had hoped to get a few matches.
"But my priority is to train for Rome and Hamburg. I wanted to continue from last week, but [playing here] is not the be-all and end-all.
"I've now got four or five days to get ready for Rome.
"It and Hamburg are the most important ones going into the French Open. All of the major players should be there, which was not the case last week."
As part of his preparations Murray will continue working with new coach Alex Corretja, who has been brought into the camp in order to fine-tune the British number one's abilities on clay courts in the lead-up to Roland Garros next month.