Andy Murray's hopes of winning his first grand slam, and ending Britain's 63-year losing streak in tennis's biggest events, were ended at the US Open last night when he was comprehensively beaten in straight sets by the No16 seed, Marin Cilic.
"Certainly," agreed the Scot when asked if his 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 defeat ranked as the biggest disappointment of his career. "Worse things have happened to me, for sure, but in terms of tennis, yes. The way the match went makes it so disappointing."
There were few people inside the Arthur Ashe stadium who would disagree with that self-assessment, not least the phalanx of former champions, John McEnroe among them, who had argued the Scot, seeded No2, was the man to beat this week. Likewise those inside the arena who paid their money to watch one of the most vaunted players in the game, the successor to Roger Federer in the view of some, only to discover an impostor in his place.
Murray had seven break points, two of which came in the 10th game of the first set and offered the chance to take the first set. He lost both of those, and the other five to boot.
"I had my chance in the first set and, then, after that I struggled and then the momentum went with him. I returned poorly and he served well," said Murray, who had not lost to the Croatian in three previous meetings. "That was the cleanest I have seen him hit the ball."
McEnroe was not around to comment in the immediate aftermath of Murray's defeat. The American is a dab hand when it comes to the blunt art of criticism and he would not have been short of raw material. Listless, spineless, hopeless - these were just a few of the adjectives that might accurately have described the Scot's effort.
Murray refused to blame a niggling wrist injury. Nor did he demur when it was put to him that he "went away mentally" in the second and third sets. "Over the last couple of years I have found ways to get back into matches. Today, I could have been better in pretty much every part of the game, whether it was mental, the serve or forehand and backhand returns," he said.
For the Scot, there is next week's Davis Cup match in Liverpool to contemplate. For the 6ft 6in Croat, there is a quarter-final match against Juan Martín del Potro.
