Andy Murray says his shock defeat by world number 50 Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open is tough to take.
The German played aggressively to surprise Britain’s world number one and register a 7-5 5-7 6-2 6-4 victory.
Murray, 29, has never won the title despite reaching the final five times, but was favourite to win after Novak Djokovic was knocked out on Thursday.
«It a tough loss at one of the biggest events and one that I wanted to do better at,» Murray told BBC Sport.
«I get a bit of time off now and try to learn from it and try to understand what I could have done a little bit better, and then come back and try again. »
It is the first time since 2009 that the Scot has not reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne.
Johanna Konta is now the only Briton left in the singles after Dan Evans’ run was ended by France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Sunday.
«Mischa plays with a game style that not many players play these days and he played it extremely well,» said Murray.
«In the slams, with the best-of-five format, you have time to turn things around. There’s also time to mess it up as well. »
Zverev’s attacking serve-and-volley style meant that Murray was under pressure throughout.
The Briton grew more frustrated as the match progressed, turning and shouting to his box as he tried to halt Zverev’s progress.
«I was getting myself pumped up and at the end of the set I was trying to get a little more energy, show positive body language,» he added.
«I don’t think I was flat, it just wasn’t to be today. He deserved to win. It’s a tough one to lose. »
A clearly emotional Zverev, who is coached by his parents, paid tribute to his younger brother Alexander after he completed the win over Murray.
Alexander, 19, narrowly missed out on a place in the quarter-finals after a five-set contest with Rafael Nadal on Saturday.
«My brother inspires me all the time because he plays such great tennis and he challenges me to do better in myself,» said Zverev, 29.
The German is the lowest-ranked player to beat Murray at a Grand Slam since Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela, then also ranked 50th, beat him at Melbourne in 2006.
He will go on to face either Roger Federer, who he described as his idol, or Kei Nishikori in the last eight.
«I was like in a little coma, just serving and volleying my way through it. There were a few points where I didn’t know how I pulled it off but somehow I made it,» Zverev added.
«It was kind of easy to stay aggressive but it was tough to stay calm. I was expecting to maybe double fault in the last but somehow I made it. »
Leon Smith, Great Britain Davis Cup captain, on BBC Radio 5 live
Andy will obviously be very disappointed but hopefully in a couple of days’ time he can look back and realise what he’s done over the last decade in Slams is absolutely phenomenal.
So as much as this one hurts, he’s got an incredible record and he’s got time now to go and prepare for the next one, the French Open and onwards.
Mischa Zverev played great. It was much talked about beforehand, he plays in a way that other players just aren’t used to playing against — serve and volley all the time on the first serve, a lot of times on the second, hitting and coming in off returns. It just made it more difficult to get into the match because there’s no rhythm.
Jeremy Bates, former British number one
I don’t think this has any reflection whatsoever on how the rest of the year goes — they are here to play 18, 19 tournaments I think Andy plays on average per year — he’s got all the Slams coming up, he’s still world number one and in a very strong position.
One loss is not going to rock the boat too much or blow him off course. If anything it will motivate him to probably work harder — he’s somebody who analyses these things, he likes to look into the reasons, what he could’ve done better, what went wrong and that’s his mind, that’s the way he works, that’s why he’s successful and he will use it along those lines to carry on.
He’ll probably have another great year, he’s in the driving seat.
Tennis, Sun 22 Jan, 17:15 GMT, BBC Two
Tennis, Mon 23 Jan, 02:00 GMT, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra
Tennis, Mon 23 Jan, 07:00 GMT, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra
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