Andy Murray falls apart and exits US Open with a whimper

Andy Murray speaks about his exit from the US Open Link to this video Andy Murray was as confused as the rest of us in defeat and piercing his despondency was a struggle as we sought to discover why his usually pitch-perfect fitness deserted him when he needed it against Stanislas Wawrinka in the US Open. Murray, who punishes himself at his training camp near Key Biscayne in Florida during the heat and wind of the American summer, had looked in superb shape in his first two matches but his legs were drained of bounce in the fading stages of this match, which Wawrinka deserved to win, hobbling himself midway, by 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3 in four minutes short of four hours. That slot looked as if it belonged to Murray after he had scrambled his way through the first set. That would not be a view held by most of those close at hand, as he blew point after point with misdirected ground-strokes, tugged at tightening leg muscles, foot-faulted three times and was passed with worrying regularity as he strove desperately to get back in the match by attacking randomly rather than selectively, as he normally does. Murray came to the net 50 times and won the point 30 times; Then Wawrinka suffered a wretched twist of fate, as his right quad gave up on him during a lunge at a wide ball on his backhand, a shot that most of the match was a killer winner for him. It went from not looking very good to anarchic in a few minutes in that third set and Murray never recovered. It was Wawrinka who held his nerve, and Murray, the ice-cool pro, who struggled like a lost soul to find a winning formula or even the occasional kind bounce.