Andy Murray admitted delivering a below-par serving performance was always asking for trouble against Rafael Nadal as the Spaniard swiftly wrapped up a straight sets at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Having beaten Nadal’s compatriot David Ferrer in his opening round robin match, Murray went into Wednesday’s clash knowing that a second consecutive victory would put him on the brink of the semi-finals.
But while the first set proved to be tight affair with Nadal edging it 6-4, the match quickly got away from Murray in the second as his opponent wrapped up a 6-4, 6-1 win,
Murray, who had switched back to the hard courts this week after spending his time on clay preparing for Great Britain’s Davis Cup final in Belgium next week, was out of sorts winning just 10 per cent of points behind his second serve by the end of the match while he finished with 29 unforced errors.
The British number one also attracted attention when he opted to trim the fringe of his hair during a change of ends at 2-1 down in the first set, although Murray was quick to downplay that or next week’s final as having an impact on the final result.
"I don't know why such minor things make such a big deal," said Murray, who plays Stan Wawrinka in his last group game on Friday and can still progress. "I had some hair in my eye, and I just wanted to get rid of it. That literally took two seconds. That was it.
"It was nothing to do with next week or anything to do with the outcome of this match.
"I think that he was hitting the ball extremely well from the back of the court, but I didn't really help myself.
"I served poorly at the end of the first set and all through the second. That's not going to be good enough against him when he's playing that well.”
Sportsbeat 2015