Andy Murray may have lost in the Australian Open third round, but he clearly won the hearts of a packed Margaret Court arena on Saturday night.
The British former world No. 1 fell to Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 to conclude a mini-heroic run the 35-year-old had in Melbourne.
"Lots of mixed emotions," Murray said after the match. "I mean, I feel like I gave everything that I had to this event. So I'm proud of that."
The three-time Grand Slam had won his previous two rounds in a pair of grueling five-setters against Italy's Matteo Berrettini and Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis, respectively.
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He garnered the respect and love of the Melbourne fans during these matches as he spent 4 hours, 49 minutes to capture his first win and a whopping 5 hours, 45 minutes to secure his second win in a battle that ended at 4:05 a.m. local time.
Murray admitted that after the early morning match finish, he was only able to sleep from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. local time before having to go to Melbourne Park to have "seven or eight blisters drained." He said he went back to the hotel after that to get a few more hours of sleep and finished the exhausting day with a 15-minute hit and an ice bath session.
Murray, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion, was one of the two men who had won a major left in the draw. Novak Djokovic, who booked a spot in the fourth round on Saturday night, is now the last.
Murray is also a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, with four losses in the final to Djokovic and one to Roger Federer.
Good news for Murray fans, he is set to return to competition in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Dubai, scheduled for February.
"I don't have an injury, which is good," Murray said. "My body obviously has had a lot of load and stress go through it these last few days... I'll need to take a bit of time to recover."
