Andy Murray has suggested he could consider his future if his game goes “backwards” after he crashed out to Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the US Open.
The 36-year-old also hinted that he may no longer be able to enjoy deep runs in Grand Slam tournaments after his 6-3 6-4 6-1 loss to the 19th seed.
Murray has not reached the last 16 of a major since 2019 and lost in the second round of Wimbledon in July.
The straight-sets defeat is also a blow to his hopes of being seeded for next year’s Australian Open.
Speaking at his press conference, Murray reflected: “It's obviously disappointing to not play how you would like. But maybe I need to accept that, you know, these events, I had the deep runs and everything that I felt like I'm capable of, they might not be there, as well.
“So I'm aware what I'm doing, it's unbelievably challenging to play at the highest level as I am now. And yeah, some days it's harder than others. But yeah, today is obviously a really disappointing defeat and probably the manner of it as well. I mean, I fought hard enough but I just didn't, like I say, didn't play well enough.
“You know, ultimately these are the events that you want to play your best tennis in, and, you know, create more great moments and didn't do that this year.”
Murray insists he currently has no plans to retire but admits “things might change”.
“I've obviously been progressing this year from a ranking perspective,” continued Murray, who is currently ranked 37th.
“You know, I had some great matches in Australia. Well, quite a few amazing matches at the beginning of the year really, in Doha, as well.
“I think was close to - you never know what's gonna happen - but I think I was close to having a good run at Wimbledon.
“I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level. I enjoy the work. You know, the training and trying to improve and trying to get better, I do still enjoy that.
“Yeah, and that's what keeps me going. If things change and I stop enjoying that or my results, my ranking and everything, like, if I start to go backwards in that respect, you know, in a few months' time I was ranked 60 in the world or whatever instead of moving up the way, things might change.”
On his plans for the next two months, Murray appeared to rule himself out of the Davis Cup despite having been named in Leon Smith’s squad along with Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Neal Skupski.
“Obviously the plan was to play Davis Cup, but if I'm being honest, you know, the other guys deserve to play ahead of me,” he said.
“Yeah, I know it's obviously probably a difficult situation, like, obviously for Leon with Jack [Draper]. He's had quite a few injuries coming in, but if he's fit and healthy, he's obviously playing very well. You know, Cam and Evo, you know, Evo has had a great run in Washington. So yeah, we'll see about Davis Cup and what happens there.
“Yeah, I think there is probably a chance that I'm not on the team. Yeah, see where I go from there.”
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