Andrew Murray was knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round today - then cited the weight of media expectation as a contributing factor in his straight sets defeat to Juan Ignacio Chela.
The 18-year-old from Dunblane, believed by many to be the future British No 1, lost 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 a day after Tim Henman was also eliminated in the first round. Murray admitted that he is already beginning to feel the same pressure that has been characteristic of Henman’s career.
“If you guys expect me to play well every single match and every single tournament then it’s not going to happen,” Murray said. “Everybody has a bad tournament sometime. Unfortunately, it came here.
“But I’m going to have much better days than this one, and I’m sure I’ll have worse days. You guys (the media) are expecting me to win matches like this. The guy’s ranked 20 places in front of me, he is a much better player than me.
“It’s difficult for me to go out there and try to perform to the best that I can when I’m expected to win all these matches.”
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Questioned further about his claims, after it was suggested he has received nothing but good press since he arrived on the circuit, Murray bristled before the press conference came to an abrupt end.
“You don’t think there’s any pressure on me? Well, if you don’t think that, then I’m obviously going to disagree on something. If you guys don’t think you’re putting pressure on me, then that’s fine. I’ll forget about it.”
After making the biggest jump of any player in 2005 as he surged from world number 514 to number 65 by the end of the year - and also becoming the first British teen since Buster Mottram in 1974 to finish in the top 100 - Murray has been touted as a future champion.
But a day after Henman was sent on his way in four sets by Dmitry Tursunov, Murray similarly had no answer to the consistent play of his more experienced Argentinian opponent.
Murray made a poor start by surrendering his serve in the second game of the match and a second service break in the sixth game, as he committed 15 unforced errors, meant Chela was able to close out the set in just 23 minutes.
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Having converted both his break point chances in the first set, Chela was not as quick to take his opportunities in the second set, but it mattered little as he broke in the second game on the way to leading 3-0.
Murray lifted his intensity and pressured Chela’s serve in the sixth and eighth games in an effort to get back into the contest but, after failing to break at 30-40 and with Chela leading 4-3, he dropped his serve for a fourth time to fall two sets behind.
Thirteen second-set winners were offset by 17 more unforced errors, and for the third time in as many sets Murray was broken in the second game, with Chela then holding firm on his own serve to cruise home and set up a second-round clash with Lleyton Hewitt.