Out-of-sorts Murray loses in first round at Olympics

ONE WORLD, one dream may be the Olympics motto, but for Andy Murray, these Games were in danger of turning into a nightmare. The Scot succumbed to a shock straight-sets defeat at the hands of Lu Yen-Hsun yesterday and, with brother Jamie, had to fight back from a set down to ensure he did not suffer the same fate in the doubles.

The first-round singles match had been postponed from Sunday because of the torrential rain and while that may have stopped, there was still a black cloud hanging over Murray as he struggled throughout his head-to-head with the Chinese Taipei underdog, who is ranked over 70 places below him. Losing the first-set tie-break he was a frustrated figure as he muttered and roared his way around court, and having failed to up his own performance as the contest progressed, he was then broken in the tenth game of the second to ensure an early exit.

It was a big surprise given Murray's form coming into the Olympics, beating Novak Djokovic to win his first ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati a week earlier, but the extended run in that tournament meant he has not had much time to combat jet-lag or adapt to the extreme humidity.

"I don't want to make any excuses for the defeat," he said. "He played better. I could have done better but I struggled. I still had chances but didn't take them and he played some great tennis."

But his older sibling had some sympathy, explaining they were both still waking up early due to the switch in time zones. "I don't think he will have been physically tired but we arrived here quite late and we were waking up really early so if we were maybe a bit flat, it's understandable."

The singles defeat was hardly ideal preparation for the doubles match which followed less than three hours later, although Andy revealed he had managed to catch a nap in the massage room in between matches. Having struggled against a relative unknown in the singles, the Murray brothers faced a tougher prospect in the doubles.

They were up against Daniel Nestor and Frederic Niemeyer, the former is the World No 1 doubles player, and it was no real surprise that the Canadians took the first set 6-4.

With their mother watching from the stands, neither of the British duo was looking too sprightly, but slipping behind seemed to give the bleary brothers a wake-up call and they battled back to take the next two sets 6-3, 6-4, Andy hitting the shot which secured the win.

Jamie said he had not done too much to try to raise his brother's spirits in the break and even when Andy gave in to the odd fit of pique in the doubles, including smashing his racquet at one stage, his brother left him to his own devices.

"Well a lot of the time he doesn't really want to listen, and it makes him more angry (if I say anything]," he said. "But I'm here to play in the Olympics and represent my country, and enjoy myself. At times that was a wee bit difficult, but we got through."

It is an example of how their knowledge of each other can help, when so many others in the draw are scratch pairings. And Andy is hoping it can reap the ultimate reward.

"It wasn't too difficult to go back out after my singles," he said. "I'm here to try and win an Olympic medal and I'd have liked success in either but if I had to pick one then to win it with Jamie would be special. I was obviously disappointed to lose my singles match but to win an Olympic medal with my brother would be something very few families could say they've done. We have a slight chance but we'll have to play as well as we did tonight over the next four matches if we're to do it."

His brother thinks they will have to do even better. "We managed to sneak through," said Jamie. "But he (Nestor] has had a bloody good year and for us to get a win over him is a confidence-booster. I guess it wasn't the best performance of all time, but we managed to get through, that's the main thing. We fought hard in the end, and we'll look forward to the next round and we'll try to improve. You don't win medals on the first day of the tournament."

Of course not, but you can cut your chances of winning one in half, as his brother discovered.