Going soft: still struggling to come to terms with fatherhood, Andy Murray heads for exit at Miami Open
Third-round exits from two elite ATP events since becoming a father have Britain’s Andy Murray searching for answers as the world number two approaches the start of the clay-court season.
The 28-year-old Scotsman lost a 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 6-3 shocker to 28th-ranked Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov on Monday at the Miami Open after having been sent packing at Indian Wells by Argentina’s 48th-ranked Frederico Delbonis.
Win or lose, it’s not irrelevent to me but it’s not as important as it was before
“I was up a break in the third, same thing in Indian Wells as well,” Murray said. “Then lost a run of games in both matches. So need to look at that and see where I go from there.”
Joining the Scot in the rush for the exity was top-ranked woman Serena Williams, the three-time defending Miami Open champion, who was upset 6-7, 6-1, 6-2 by 15th-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Murray, who fell to 0-5 in Australian Open finals with a loss to Novak Djokovic in January, became a father on February 7 when his wife Kim gave birth to daughter Sophia and took a break until Indian Wells.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Murray said. “I expected Indian Wells to be tricky. But here I had a long time to prepare, practised pretty well.
