Andy Murray is searching for an idea as to what happened a day after his first round loss at the French Open to 16th seed Stan Wawrinka. Playing in Paris for the first time since 2017, where he lost to the Swiss in a five-set semifinal thriller, Wawrinka dealt him a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 defeat in just 87 minutes.
Murray searching for answers moving forward
Speaking to the media after the match, Murray said "I need to have a long, hard think and try and understand what happened. It's not for me the sort of match I would just brush aside and not give any thought to. There are obvious reasons behind a scoreline like that."
"I think that's probably in terms of scoreline, I might be wrong, but I think that's the worst defeat maybe of my career in a Grand Slam. I'm not sure if that's the case. So I should be analyzing that hard and try to understand why the performance was like that."
The former Roland Garros finalist wouldn't blame his heavy defeat on the different weather conditions, which were cold and rainy.
"I don't feel like the conditions are an excuse for it. I don't feel like that's a valid reason, maybe maybe not to enjoy the matches as much when it's like that, but not in terms of it shouldn't affect your performance in any way. So I'll need to have a long, hard think and try and understand what happened."
Reprising their rivalry, Murray knew drawing Wawrinka would be a difficult challenge under any circumstances.
"Today was obviously an extremely tough draw. Even if I had played very well, it would have been no guarantee that I would win that match. But I also didn't play well. I served like 40 percent first serves on the court, which is just not good enough against anyone really, and especially someone as good as Stan.
"You want to be serving in the 60 percent range. I haven't served like that [before]. That's nothing to do with my hip in terms of movement. I would assume I was moving a bit better before I had a metal hip. It would probably be fair to assume that. But like mistiming returns and serving at 38 percent, that's got nothing to do with that.
"That's something I'll need to look at with my team and see why I was missing them, where I was missing them."
The three-time major champion is 3-3 since he returned to the tour with his highlight being a second-round victory over Alexander Zverev at the Western and Southern Open last month.
"From a physical perspective, I wouldn't physically expect to be the same as what I was before I had the operation. But in like terms of ball striking and in terms of my strokes and stuff....there is no reason I can't do that from a technical perspective. There have been matches I have played since I came back where I have hit the ball well.
"I know it wasn't the best match at times, but Zverev was a couple of points away from winning the US Open, and I won against him the week beforehand. It's going to be difficult for me to play at the same level as I did before. I'm 33 now and I was ranked #1, so it's difficult with all the issues that I have had.
"But i'll keep going. Let's see what the next few months hold, and I reckon I won't play a match like that between now and the end of the year."