In an exciting semi final match Stan Wawrinka defeated Andy Murray and thus it was a bad year for Andy Murray. The bad news first: Still, after an injury-ravaged season, Murray sounded reasonably satisfied with his spectacular five-set defeat at the hands of Stan Wawrinka. The word “courageous” might not sit easily when a man is earning £440,000 for bunting a fuzzy yellow ball over a net. But anyone who watched this brutal tussle will appreciate the desperate commitment on both sides. There was no repeat of Novak Djokovic’s early check-out – as seen in his dismal quarter-final against Dominic Thiem – only bug-eyed focus.
In the final set, Murray must have felt like a soldier in a war movie, mown down by enemy fire as Wawrinka propelled winners in all directions. It took a defiant effort just to avoid a bagel. But when you consider where he was a fortnight ago, throwing his rackets around in frustration at the inaccuracy of his own practice sessions, it was no small feat to go toe-to-toe with a heavyweight like Wawrinka. And, at one enticing moment, to stand within four points of victory.
“I’m proud of the tournament I had,” said Murray after his 6-7, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 defeat. “I was one tie-break away from getting to the final when I came in really struggling.“Maybe the lack of matches hurt me a little bit in the end today. That was a very high intensity match [with] a lot of long points. When you haven’t been playing loads that can catch up to you a little bit over four, four-and-a-half hours.
“I only have myself to blame for the way I played coming in. But I turned my form around really, really well and ended up having a good tournament, all things considered.” Even though Murray lost, the BBC analyst Pat Cash described it as his best performance of the fortnight. His level ebbed and flowed more than he would have wanted, but he showed real cojones – first when snatching the first set via a nervy tie-break, and then when halting Wawrinka’s run of seven straight games midway through the third.
During these periods, Murray’s retrievals verged on the supernatural. Wawrinka hits his overhead with pace and accuracy. But every time he dropped back to smash one of Murray’s steepling lobs, he found himself questioning where to send the ball. Half a dozen times, Murray retreated behind the baseline and made an improbable get, often reversing the momentum of the point.
