AN emotional Andy Murray said he was proud of his efforts despite suffering his fifth Australian Open final defeat last night.
The Scot was beaten 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 by the world No.1 Novak Djokovic, the fourth time the Serb has denied him at the last hurdle.
Murray is the first man to lose five times at a single grand slam without having won the title, but the 28-year-old said he was just looking forward to getting home after a difficult two weeks off the court.
“I'm proud that I got into this position,” he said. “I’m just quite looking forward to getting home now.”
With his wife, Kim, due to have their first child any day now, Murray said he was pleased to have done as well as he did, reaching the final while always listening out for the phone.
The shock collapse of his father-in-law, Nigel Sears, courtside in Melbourne nine days ago meant Murray was seriously considering flying back to London.
“It's as close as I've sort of been to leaving a grand slam,” he said.
“It was a tough, tough couple of days. Thankfully he's fine now. Yeah, I just want to get home.”
On the court, Murray paid tribute to his wife, saying she had been “a legend the last two weeks” and said without her support, he would not have played.
“Regardless of today's result, it's been hard,” he said. “Had I lost in the third or fourth round, it still would have been difficult with everything that's happened.
“She's been amazing, handled everything unbelievably well. I have to thank her for allowing me to play and sort of stay here with everything that was going on. But it was tough.”
Murray admitted the off-court distractions contributed to his below-par performance in the first set, which Djokovic won in just 30 minutes.
“A lot’s been going on,” he said. “I started the last couple of matches quite slowly, [which is] understandable in some respects, I think. Obviously it's not good to begin matches like that against someone like Novak.
“I'm proud of the way I fought and managed to get myself back into the match and create chances for myself. But obviously I didn't start particularly well.”
Murray said unforced errors let him down in the end, but still felt he was close to extending the match by winning either of the second or third sets, or both.
“The end of the second set, the game I lost from 40-love up [at 5-5], was a tough one,” he said.
“Maybe I could have nicked that set. I was starting to have quite a lot of opportunities in the second. I had a few chances there when I got the break back I think. That was a tough game to lose.
“Then obviously in the third I felt like towards the end of the set, after I got the break back again, that I was creating a few chances.
“Then in the tie-break, I missed two second serves by a little bit. He had served an ace on the T, which was in by a little bit. That was it.”
Murray had had his bags half-packed throughout the tournament, should he receive the call from home, and said he was more than ready to go.
“I've been held on flights for it feels like five days,” he said. “I've been held on almost every single flight, so the first one out of here, I'm leaving.”
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