U.S. Open News - Andy Murray meekly cracks under Cilic pressure

Flushing Meadow, New York – After all the hype and build up to the US Open, serving up Andy Murray and his generous odds to win the US Open title outright, Murray once again bucks the trend. It seems rather childishly desperate – you can say immature even (don’t mind really) – to say I told you so. But I did tell ya so! That I said it would happen one round later, the quarters against (potentially) Del Potro is neither here nor there. That he falls a round earlier actually somehow adds to the stunning upsetting tragedy (ya right) of it all. Point is: Murray is not going to win the US Open title. Excuse me a moment while I do a little jig.

It is not as if it didn’t happen before. I mean he has flattered to deceive twice already on the Grand Slam stage this season so you really shouldn’t be all too surprised nor should you be offended that some of us had him going out early. There was evidence to support it after all.

In the lead up to the Aussie Open, arguably before he totted up his outstanding tally on hard courts this season (which for the most part still are so), he was held up as the player to beat. At the time, it was not so much his fault as the fault of tennis experts and analysts pegging him as the player to beat and bookies being swept with the euphoria of it all. I mean he hadn’t won a major title yet and his only claim to Grand Slam glory was to threaten to do so when he reached the US Open final last year. Premature if you ask me. And tale told he fell in the last 16 to Fernando Verdasco in a bipolar five-set affair down under.

Murray euphoria reached the penultimate climax during the Wimbledon Championships when many dressed him up a viable threat to take down Roger Federer and the title. We all know how that fairytale ended: in the semis with a five set loss to Andy Roddick.

Murray euphoria really came to a head in the lead up to the US Open after he ascended to the No.2 ranking in the world. The upward shift in ranking seemed to underscore the market cast and fuelled pre-tournament predictions, with the best of intentions of course, in harbouring false hope amongst fans swayed by such forecasts. Tale told, Murray was dumped by Marin Cilic in their last 16 encounter at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

Whatever game plan Murray and team Murray hatched for this match never quite surfaced. And what was that Murray did when he was down two sets and a break in the third: jogging out to the baseline and hopping around for a bit as if to say, he was ready to really start playing at 7-5, 6-2, 3-2. Where was he at the start of the match – did he forget he was playing for a spot in the quarters of a Grand Slam he is supposed to win on Sunday?

Too late now. The real disappointment though has to be not that he lost but in the way he lost: he was as fiery as tepid tea with a side of cucumber sandwiches.