Andy Murray: I may drop down to Challenger Tour to stop my losing streak

After his recent loss in straight sets during Marseille on Tuesday evening, Andy Murray has suggested that he might consider participating in the Challenger Tour, which is a lower level of tennis tournaments.

Murray suffered a 7-5, 6-4 defeat against Tomas Machac, a powerful player from the Czech Republic who holds the 66th position in the worldwide rankings. This marks the third consecutive loss for Murray in 2024 and his sixth consecutive defeat since October.

Later on, he informed the French media that he needs to find a way to win again. This may entail participating in tournaments at a lower level, but not right away. He is set to compete in the ATP event in Doha in 12 days, where he has to maintain his 150 rankings points from reaching the final in the previous year. If he decides to compete in Challenger events, it's more likely to happen during late spring when the main tour transitions to clay, which is not his preferred surface.

Murray stated that the best approach to achieving success is to compete in actual matches and work to come up with strategies to win. Just because a technique works well in practice doesn't necessarily mean it will work in a game situation. His coach, Ivan Lendl, informed him in 2016 that he only managed to win a couple of practice sets in the entire year, yet he was able to become the number one player in the world. On the other hand, this year Murray has won every single practice set he's played but hasn't been able to secure a victory in a real match. Perhaps the solution is to lower his level of competition and participate in Challenger-level tournaments in order to bolster his confidence in that manner.

During the match on Tuesday, Murray managed to bounce back after losing a few points in the beginning and evened out the score. For a brief moment, he seemed like he could dominate the game. However, when his opponent put pressure on him at 5-5, 30-all, Murray made a mistake by serving two faulted serves and making an unforced error.

"I Play For The Love Of The Game"

He later explained that his recent poor performance was due to feeling uncertain during crucial moments. This feeling started at the end of last season after he failed to finish off two matches against Australian No.1 Alex De Minaur, despite having a 5-2 deciding-set lead.

Murray stated that although he can rival the male players, he has not emerged victorious in the matches. Losing these matches has taken a toll on his self-assurance. Throughout his entire career, Murray had never felt this way. When he would lose a match early one week, he would typically advance further the following week, reaching the semi-finals or finals and maybe even winning. However, he has lost numerous games, including those that were very close. This is a novel sensation that Murray has never encountered in his tennis career.

Murray discussed his recent outburst on social media. He wrote on X, previously known as Twitter, after an article by Kheredine Idessane, who is a tennis reporter, was published by the BBC. Idessane questioned whether Murray was damaging his reputation by continuing to compete despite experiencing declining performance.

Murray clarified that he wasn't angry. He didn't read the message and was shouting at his phone. He was simply feeling a little disheartened. To those who pay attention to tennis and are familiar with his journey, he hoped they would recognize the challenge he faces with his hip issue and comprehend how difficult it is to achieve what he's doing, given that it has yet to be accomplished in any other sport.

It would have been effortless for me to quit playing when I had to undergo surgery. I could have simply said, "I'm done" and called it a day. But, I play because I have a deep passion for the game. Despite the challenges, I still get pleasure from practicing, training, and traveling. Granted, competing may be tough at the moment, but a few losses won't diminish my accomplishments from over the years.

I have known the individual responsible for quite a while, and I simply didn't believe that participating presently had any effect on my previous accomplishments while being in good physical condition with two functional hips.