ANDY MURRAY’S MISERABLE run continued with a first-round loss to Tomas Machac at the Open 13 Provence.
The 36-year-old’s 7-5 6-4 defeat by Czech Machac in Marseille was his sixth in a row dating back to October and means he has won only one of his last 10 matches.
Murray has admitted he is weighing up when to retire, but he railed against a suggestion he could be tarnishing his legacy by playing on, writing on X, formerly Twitter last week: “Most people would quit and give up in my situation right now. But I’m not most people and my mind works differently. I won’t quit.”
This was not a bad performance against a player on the rise in 23-year-old Machac, ranked 66, but again there were costly lapses.
Murray recovered from an early break and appeared to have the momentum late in the opening set, only for Machac to break serve at 5-5.
The Czech then moved ahead early in the second set and Murray was unable to recover the deficit.
It was a significantly better day, though, for Heather Watson, who claimed her best victory by ranking since 2017 to upset ninth seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 7-5 at the Abu Dhabi Open.
Watson struggled in 2023, but she played confident, aggressive tennis to defeat 16th-ranked Russian Kudermetova and the win could see her break back into the world’s top 130.
“I know she’s such a great player so I knew I had to play really well today,” said Watson, who defeated former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round of qualifying.
“I just focused on what was in my control, my serve and just trying to be as aggressive as I can. I played really well and had a lot of fun out here today.”
Watson joins compatriot Emma Raducanu in the second round and will next face Spaniard Cristina Bucsa.
Good piece and great to see him doing so well, Munster are certainly in the upper tier of teams in Europe and a real handful at home but the crunch needed against the power teams in a semi or final they are a bit away. This new setup will take time and will have its down days but with the right acquisitions and leadership they could be there in a couple of years.
@mrbryanrussell: What Munster have been missing from the past 8 years is what it is needed to win a Champions cup/ Heinekin Cup – a world class 7 and world class 10. Unfortunately Munster have have just a series of bad luck in this department – constant injuries to TOD, Bleyendaal and now Cloete and Carbery have knocked their season and when you’re relying on 2nd and 3rd choice players in these positions it is highly unlikely you will make it all the way to the final in May.
There’s always a reaction when Munster don’t do well, especially from certain quarters within and outside rugby who like to twist the knife when they get the opportunity.
However Munster are still not far off making a breakthrough but there are a few things needed for that to happen in my opinion.
The new coaching staff and shift in playing style needs to bed in.
We desperately need some players of the right quality to come through the academy. When I say “the right quality” I don’t mean simply international quality but players made out of the same stuff as Clohessy, Galway, Foley, Quinlan, Stringer, ROG etc.
Players who are 100% Munster and would see pulling on the red jersey (of Munster!!) as the greatest honour imaginable.
It might be a big ask now that we’re so removed from the amateur era but a couple of players like that would be gold dust.
We need to shift away from the notion that the HC is the only thing that matters. Too many times in recent years we’ve shot ourselves in the foot by putting ourselves in a poor position in the Pro14 by going after a European Cup we were never likely to win.
Build towards making ourselves as good as anyone in the league, win it and evolve from there.
We need to ensure that any players that are brought in from outside, either IQ or not, are of the required quality and willing to give 100% to Munster.
And probably above all else we need a bit of luck, especially with injuries.