Dejected Andy Murray can't guarantee another Wimbledon and admits pain of Tsitsipas loss will take while to get over

Andy Murray trudges off after his five-set defeat by Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon.

Over the course of two days, four hours and 40 minutes he had had his chances but, ultimately, he could not take them against the world No 5 and a man 12 years his junior. He lost 7-6 6-7 4-6 7-6 6-4 on Centre Court.

Another Wimbledon had gone and he had failed to reach the end of the first week; he was not sure if he could take much more of his. Would he be back next year?

“I don't know,” he said quietly. “Yeah, motivation is obviously a big thing. Continuing having early losses in tournaments like this don't necessarily help with that. It's similar to I guess last year [when he lost to John Isner in the second round]. I had a long think about things, spoke to my family, decided to keep on going.

“I don't plan to stop right now. But, yeah, this one will take a little while to get over. Hopefully find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better.”

The crowd had played their part under the roof on Thursday night as the Scot fought back from a set down and then turned the match around to take a two-sets-to-one lead. The atmosphere was electric then and, coming back on Friday in the bright sunshine, they tried to lift their man again. The draw ahead of him had opened up with the seeded players Ben Shelton and Cameron Norrie knocked out. This was the sort of chance that Murray had not had in years. But he could not take it.

“Obviously it's brilliant to play in great atmospheres,” Murray said. “It makes playing the matches more enjoyable and creates certainly better memories. But ultimately this was an opportunity for me. I had a good chance of having a proper run for the first time in a long time at a slam. I didn't take it. Regardless of the atmosphere and those things, it's still very, very disappointing to be sitting here right now.”