Andy Murray isn’t ready to follow John Isner into retirement, but the three-time major champion also understands his days of making runs at one of the big four tournaments may be in the past, too.
The 36-year-old Brit made a quick exit at the U.S. Open, losing 6-3, 6-4, 6-1, to No. 19 Grigor Dimitrov in the second round to start the action Thursday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“It’s obviously disappointing to not play how you would like,” Murray said. “But maybe I need to accept that, you know, at these events [that] I had the deep runs and everything that I felt like I’m capable of, they might not be there [anymore].”
Murray, whose world ranking had risen to 37th entering this tournament, didn’t sound ready to call it quits, even if this year didn’t go well for him in any of the major tournaments. His best finish came at the Australian Open, in which he advanced to the third round.
“I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level,” he said. “I enjoy the work. You know, the training and trying to improve and trying to get better, I do still enjoy that. And that’s what keeps me going.”
Third-seeded American Jessica Pegula made quick work of Romania’s Patricia Maria Tig, needing just over an hour to breeze to a 6-3, 6-1 win in the last match of the night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“I never thought that I’d be getting used to Ashe, but somehow I am,” Pegula, who played after Carlos Alcaraz, said. “But it’s hard to follow Carlos. It’s a tough act to follow, man.”
The Buffalo native has made the quarterfinals in five of her last seven Grand Slams, and cruised into the Open’s third round for the fourth straight year.
She won eight of her final nine games to earn a date versus 26th-seeded Elina Svitolina.
“Elina is so tough. I feel like every single match we play is always a really good battle,” Pegula said oncourt of the Ukrainian, against whom she’s 3-1. “I feel like we play into each other’s games, where we make each other play better and we always have good matches. It’s great to see her back and playing at such a high level so quickly.”
Don’t tell Alexander Zverev a final pitting Novak Djokovic against Carlos Alcaraz is inevitable.
The 12th-seeded German offered his take on the expectation that the top two seeds will face off in the men’s final after his 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Daniel Altmaier on Court 17 in the second round.
“It’s natural for the media to find rivalries, I think. But I think, as I said last time — Novak said it very well — there are other players that can play in the draw, there are other players that both of those guys have lost to,” Zverev said.
“I think it’s disrespectful in a way to talk about the final when your next opponent is still there, you know. I think both of those guys are not thinking about the final yet. I think both of those guys know that they have their own opponents until there, and we are all here, we’re trying to win.”
Zverev will meet Dimitrov next.
It’s a rematch of Zverev’s straight-set round of 16 victory at the French Open.