Andy Murray's ranking may suffer after Borna Coric defeat, says Barry Cowan
Thursday 26 February 2015 17:20, UK
Andy Murray’s world ranking is at risk after his shock defeat to Borna Coric, warns Barry Cowan.
He could drop to fifth which has a knock-on effect in Indian Wells because he’d be likely to face Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer in the quarter-finals and that’s what he found difficult last year.
The world No 3 was surprisingly eliminated from the Dubai Championships on Thursday by his 18-year-old opponent after a 6-1 6-3 defeat laden with unforced errors.
Having also lost to Gilles Simon at the Rotterdam Open, Cowan believes Murray’s future ranking could suffer leading to even tougher tests in March’s Indian Wells and Miami tournaments.
“Andy is good enough to put these defeats behind him,” the Sky Sports expert said. “The bigger concern is the rankings. They were going in the right direction at the start of the week but they’ll be going in the wrong direction next week.
“He could drop to fifth which has a knock-on effect in Indian Wells because he’d be likely to face Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer in the quarter-finals and that’s what he found difficult last year.
“When you’re seeded three or four you miss those guys until the semi-finals. That’s the biggest thing to take away from this defeat. Djokovic is clearly world No 1 so you want to avoid him as much as you can.
“Andy has struggled for quite a while to play his best at 1000 events. He’s now lost early in two 500s so it’s even more important do well at Indian Wells and Miami.”
Worried
Murray lost three consecutive service games in the first set and hit a total of 55 unforced errors as he crashed out at the last eight stage.
Cowan insists the defeat, coupled with his Rotterdam humbling to Simon, is troubling but won’t derail Murray’s season.
“I’m not worried long-term about him, but I’m definitely worried short-term,” Cowan said. “A couple of bad beatings send the wrong message to the rest of the tour. Players will say ‘wow he hasn’t been able to back up his Australian Open performance’.
“It’s important to look at both weeks together. His defeat in Rotterdam could be put down to a bad day at the office. When it happens a week later in similar circumstances you have to look deeper.
“Andy worked very hard going into the Australian Open and had an intense couple of weeks. Since then he’s been in Rotterdam, London and Dubai and hasn’t been with his coach Amelie Mauresmo. He doesn’t have an assistant coach so everything’s been on his shoulders. Maybe that’s a contributing factor.
“The best thing now is that Andy’s got the Davis Cup coming up. It’s a team environment, he’ll get intense practice and hopefully plays well against the United States. If he wins two or three matches in the Davis Cup then what has happened in Rotterdam and Dubai will be out of the picture.
“I’m concerned and worried but it’s definitely not terminal.”
