While his home country's media threw the words, "dominated," "horrendous" and "bizarre" after Andy Murray's straight-sets loss to 18-year-old Croat Borna Coric at the Dubai Championships on Thursday, Andre Agassi had a different explanation for Murray's downfall.
"It's hard to negotiate a long year and it's harder for some than others," Agassi said, according to the Daily Mail. "Andy is a bit of a tortured perfectionist. I don't think just winning motivates him."
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It didn't appear that Murray, No. 3 in the world, was all that motivated during his match against the 84th-ranked player, who defeated the 27-year-old Scot 6-1, 6-3 in the quarter finals. Coric advanced to the semifinals, where he will meet world's No. 2 Roger Federer.
The Daily Mail used "horrendous" and "bizarre" to describe Murray's loss. The BBC.com said Murray was "dominated."
Murray had 55 unforced errors and won just five points off Coric's serve during the entire match. He also lost in the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in the Netherlands to Gilles Simon.
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"I made way too many mistakes from the beginning of the match right through to the end; early in rallies, (I was) rushing points," the Briton told reporters, according to stuff.co.nz. "(It was) quite similar to the match I played against (Gilles) Simon in Rotterdam which is disappointing."
The Daily Mail wasn't buying Murray's simplistic explanation.
"It can only be that he was not fully alert to his task, and there was certainly more to it than the explanation Murray gave for public consumption afterwards," the report said.
Agassi, however, disagreed that any elaborate rationale was necessary. He said he thought Murray's loss would just allow him more time to prepare for his upcoming Davis Cup match for Great Britain against the U.S. in Glasgow next week.
"I wouldn't worry about that loss," Agassi said of Murray. "I'm not suggesting that he is going down to Dubai to lose on purpose but I think he is going to be ready and playing his best tennis next week in front of his home crowd. He will be playing for something he values. I don't think he would lose to him (Coric) in the Davis Cup.
"He's gone down to Dubai, played two matches and now he is going to be back and have seven days, before playing best-of-five-set matches against America. He can make the most of that. I think he played well in Australia, maybe the best I have ever seen him play."
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