Andy Murray chased a drop shot in the late stages of the third set, flicked a backhand winner into the open court and immediately clutched his left hamstring.
Murray then stretched his leg by the net for a few moments as Great Britain held its collective breath.
Murray went back to the baseline and was able to finish off pesky Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1, in his U.S. Open debut yesterday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. But it was hardly a golden performance for the Scotsman finally being viewed as a major threat to win his first Grand Slam event after prevailing in the Olympics.
Saying it was just a cramp and not a hamstring pull, Murray was broken in his first two service games. He was down a break in each of the first two sets.
Murray said he “sweated a lot’’ in the Flushing Meadows humidity and surely sweated this one out.
It took him two hours before he spoke to the media afterward, recovering from a lack of fluids that he said affected him on the court. He simply didn’t look fit.
“It was a little bit of a cramp,’’ Murray said of his hamstring clutch. “It was very, very humid on the court and maybe I didn’t take enough fluid. It happens. I haven’t played that many matches in that sort of humidity in a while. It’s probably a bit of a shock to the body. I need to make sure I’m on that for the next match.’’
Murray gave himself a “6 or 7 out of 10’’, saying “I didn’t serve particularly well most of the match.’’
If Murray serves like this, he won’t be breaking his Slam schneid anytime soon. In the second round, Murray faces Croatian Ivan Dodig, whose claim to fame is beating Rafael Nadal on a hard court last year. Murray’s first big test could be the Round of 16 against Canadian serving machine Milos Raonic.
Murray left London one day after winning the Olympic title — his wondrous gold medal on the Wimbledon lawns included back-to-back routs of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. But things haven’t gone well since then. He withdrew from Toronto with knee soreness, and then lost in the third round in Cincinnati to 38th-ranked Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Murray said he’s not too concerned with his erratic play yesterday.
“I only lost seven games in three sets, so I must have done something well,’’ Murray said. “The conditions were hard, and that’s why it was tricky, an up-and-down match. Sometimes I play great at the start of tournaments and not done well. Sometimes I’ve played badly and gotten better.’’
A new buzz surrounds Murray since the gold and his memorable Wimbledon final loss to Federer in July after which he made an emotional speech. No Brit has won a grand slam event since 1936. During his post-match on-court interview, a huge cheer rose up at Ashe when his Olympic gold was mentioned.
He has repeatedly called it the “biggest win of my career by far.’’
“I know personally winning a gold medal for the Olympics is very rare, very few people get a chance to do that,’’ Murray said. “It was a huge match for me. The support since the match and Wimbledon final has been excellent.’’
Though Murray’s second serve always has been his weakness, the rest of his arsenal always has been Slam-worthy.
“He’s from all sides playing good,’’ Dodig said. “These Olympics showed he’s ready for big things.’’
Federer admitted he was disappointed to get Murray on his side of the draw for a potential match in the semis, rather than David Ferrer.
“I mean, honestly, I got a great, great record against Ferrer,” Federer said. “So probably I would have preferred to have Ferrer in my section over Murray. And I think that Murray beating me in the Olympic final, it seems like he is really gaining confidence from the Olympic gold and on hard courts.’’