If there is one advantage Andy Murray will have over the rest of the favourites for next week's Miami Masters 1000, it is that he will have the most time to prepare.
His shock second-round defeat in the BNP Paribas Open singles in Indian Wells was followed on Tuesday night by defeat at the same stage of the doubles event with his brother Jamie.
The pair's 6-7, 7-6, 10-5 exit to the No.2 seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor was no disgrace, but Murray headed for Miami a good six days sooner than he would have hoped when the tournament began.
The world No.4 will be reunited with his coach Ivan Lendl today and plans to hit both the practice court and the gym in order to exorcise the lingering demons from his defeat here by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, the world No.92.
In terms of mood, there was no comparison to 12 months ago, when he could not wait to leave here after a woeful effort against Donald Young, having lost at the same stage.
"I need to work as hard as I can and get myself ready for the tournament as best as possible," Murray said after the doubles defeat. "I'll have Ivan there, which will help. I'll make sure I practise really well, do all the right things, so that I go in as fresh as possible and fit as possible.
"I'll have some time to do some physical work as well, which I guess is a slight bonus because the clay-court season is straight afterwards so there's not much time. At least that's the one positive to look at."
Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, who were beaten by the Murrays in the first round of the doubles, will definitely be in Miami, looking to bounce back from their defeat in Indian Wells.
The pair accompanied Murray to dinner the same night so there were no hard feelings. And who paid? "Actually I paid for it, with the money that I won from beating them," said Murray. "So they were happy with that at least."
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