"I need to practice, I need to play matches and physically I need to get better"
Thursday 15 October 2020 10:47, UK
Andy Murray has conceded he needs to return to playing his own game after losing in the first round of the bett1HULKS Indoors ATP event in Cologne on Tuesday.
Murray fell to veteran Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in Germany, which followed him tumbling out of the French Open with a straight-sets, first-round loss to Stan Wawrinka as he battles back from hip surgery.
"I need to get back to playing my game on the court, I've kind of gone away from that a little bit," he said.
"I'm maybe making a few more mistakes than usual because of that."
The 33-year-old was handed a wildcard in Cologne, where he showed plenty of his competitive determination with a number of crucial breaks against Verdasco.
The Spaniard, however, proved too strong and eventually progressed 6-4 6-4 after one hour and 40 minutes.
Murray, the former world No 1, admitted there were "a lot of things" he would need to improve.
"I need to practice, I need to play matches and physically I need to get better," he said.
"Some things I did a little bit better but overall it was not that much better than that match [against Stan Wawrinka in Paris].
"It's a surface that I'm a little bit more comfortable on, so that probably helped me. But in terms of my game, it was not much better."
Murray vowed to have "a long, hard think" after suffering the joint worst Grand Slam defeat of his career to Wawrinka in the first round at Roland Garros, where he won just six games.
He reached the second round of the US Open in September but remains outside the world's top 100.
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