Andy Murray admitted he was still overweight after he narrowly avoided a shock defeat to the world No.179 at the Davis Cup.
But the Olympic champion denied that Leon Smith’s team had taken the Dutch team lightly in their opening group match.
The Scot battled back to beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-7 6-4 7-6 in two hours and 51 minutes – and admitted in his courtside interview he had deserved to lose.
Murray also revealed he had not prepared to play the Dutch No.2 as the British team had expected Botic Van de Zandschulp to be picked. And the former world No.1, who is struggling with a cold, said he was still carrying baggage from taking time off after winning the title in Antwerp last month and spending time at home after the birth of his third child.
“If you’re weighing 4 or 5 kilos more than you’re used to, that is probably going to affect how you feel moving around the court and stuff,” he said. “So I need to do better with that.
“And that’s my fault, that’s not anyone else’s responsibility, but I think that that can contribute as well.”
The British team had dropped lines from Frozen into their pre-tournament press conference to give the impression they were not taking their first match totally seriously.
“I wouldn’t think that that was the case,” Murray insisted. “We arrived here, what, a week before our first match, which I think, everyone considered that to be pretty early.
“And from my side, I knew going into the match that I didn’t feel good, so I was nervous this morning beforehand. And when you’ve played for 14 years on the Tour, I know how this sport works. It’s really difficult. Some guys in Davis Cup can step up and play well.
“And based off of the stats and stuff that we had, he played completely differently against me to what we had on him, which we’d also discussed, if someone is trying to cause an upset, they’re going to go for it. And a guy’s serving 180 kilometer an hour second serves makes things difficult.
“I was taking the match very seriously today. Maybe when you have a child, maybe that becomes your priority for a period of time as well, and maybe I could have got on the practice courts sooner. “But I also had an issue with my elbow as well, which contributed to me having to take a couple of weeks off the court as well.
"But no, I wouldn’t say I’ve taken the first match lightly. But everyone’s prepared good and I feel like that’s one of the things that Leon has been very good with throughout his whole period as captain is getting us together as soon as possible to get ready for the matches.”
Griekspoor, who has never won a Davis Cup match, played outstandingly well and fired down 23 aces in the altitude of Madrid. And it needed Murray to dig deep from a break down in the final set – and from 1-4 down in the third-set tiebreak – to secure the win.
“Tennis, when you’re playing really well and stuff, it can be quite straightforward,” said the Scot. “Going into a match where you don’t know your opponent really, you know, wasn’t feeling particularly good going into the match, either.
“But it is about finding a way to win, and I did that today. And I’m proud of myself because it would have been easy to have lost that.”
