Andy Murray has insisted Rafael Nadal’s shock first-round exit from Wimbledon would have no effect on his own plans.
A hot topic of conversation before the tournament had been about Nadal’s fifth seeding and the prospect of a quarter-final against Roger Federer, followed by a potential semi-final against Murray for the winner of that showdown.
As it happened, the reigning French Open champion did not even make it past the first round, losing in straight sets to Belgium’s Steve Darcis, a player ranked 135th in the world.
It was a similar scenario to last year, when Nadal’s second-round defeat against Lukas Rosol meant Murray avoided a likely semi-final meeting with the Spaniard, who he has never beaten at the All England Club.
Murray had no such early struggles, beating Germany’s Benjamin Becker 6-4 6-3 6-2, and thoughts of the last four were the last thing on his mind.
The Scot said in a press conference: “It’s pretty irrelevant right now. I’m sure for you guys it’s very relevant, but for the players, especially me, I have to win at least four more matches before that would even become something I would think about.
“It’s obviously surprising. But the consistency that Rafa, Roger and Novak (Djokovic) have shown in the slams over the last five or six years, it’s going to be almost impossible to keep that up forever.”