The loss that Andy Murray said was his ‘worst defeat in a Grand Slam’

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Outside of his three major triumphs, Andy Murray suffered his fair share of heartbreaking losses at Grand Slams over the years.

The Briton reached 11 Grand Slam finals in his illustrious career, suffering defeat in eight of them, five of which came at the Australian Open.

As well as his near misses in those championship matches, Murray was denied in 10 major semifinals and nine quarterfinals.

By his own account, however, the former world number one’s worst defeat at a Grand Slam was none of the above.

Andy Murray’s ‘worst defeat’ at a major during the 2020 season

He gave that title to his first-round match at Roland Garros in 2020 against Stan Wawrinka.

The tournament, rescheduled to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marked Murray’s second appearance at a major that year following a hip operation, and it ended abruptly.

The Swiss star dominated him in straight sets, winning 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the second round.

In his post-match press conference, Murray said of the result: “I need to have a long, hard think about it. It’s not for me the sort of match I would just brush aside and not give any thought to.

“There is obviously reasons behind a performance kind of like that. You know, 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, yeah, I should be analysing that hard and trying to understand why the performance was like that.

“You know, I don’t feel like the conditions are an excuse for it. I don’t feel like that’s a valid reason, maybe to not 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, yeah, I’ll need to have a long, hard think and try and understand what happened.”

Andy Murray considered changing his playstyle after the loss

When asked after the match if he would have to re-evaluate the way he plays at 33, Murray replied: “To totally change the way you play the game is hard.

“It’s hard to do that. Even since I came back from the injury. It’s more about getting the most out of my, you know, my game.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy for me to change it at this stage in my career, even though it’s something I have considered and looked at.”

Following his first-round exit at Roland Garros that year, Murray failed to make it past the third round of a Grand Slam for the remainder of his career.