Andy Murray’s wild journey ends with thumping from Denis Shapovalov

The past five days at Wimbledon have been a wild, joyous and timely reminder of the meaning of Andy Murray, both to his long-suffering fans and to the player himself who has toiled so hard without experiencing joyful moments on the court for such a long time.

But everything comes to an end and on Friday night Murray’s positive journey at this year’s Wimbledon came to a logical close as he was comprehensively beaten 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 by Denis Shapovalov, the 10th seed, in the third round.

Unlike the raucous evenings on Centre Court earlier in the week, this time Murray was subdued and unable to summon anything close to a sufficient level of play required to properly compete, and was outclassed by a top player with everything to prove on one of the bigger stages of his career. The eight games Murray managed to win marks his worst defeat at Wimbledon.

For Murray, the defeat elicited to mixed emotions. While he was buoyed by the fact that his body held up and he was able to win two matches, he was dispirited by the way the tournament ended.

“This week has been really good in some ways, but it’s been frustrating too,” said Murray. “I played two long matches, and it’s really significantly more than anything I have done in the last six months really. So if my game is not quite spot-on physically, I’m not perfect, or physically, like, really fresh, it’s going to be hard for me. It’s extremely frustrating, because, yeah, I feel like I put a lot of work into getting to this point, and then obviously to lose like that is tough.”

Despite the nine tense sets of tennis in his problematic groin and metal hip over the previous four days, Murray’s body rebounded well from the heaviest load it has been under in four years. The first 20 minutes, however, demonstrated the clearest obstacle before him – the quality of opposition across the net. While his victories over Nikoloz Basilashvili, the 24th seed, and qualifier Oscar Otte were thrilling, positive steps forward, Shapovalov is simply a far better tennis player than both of those men.

This was an enormous moment for Shapovalov, his Centre Court debut against a hometown legend, and he demonstrated his quality pretty much immediately, breaking serve for a 2-1 lead with a supreme angled backhand winner which set the tone for the rest of the match as Shapovalov overwhelmed an unsettled Murray with his constant pace and depth of shot.

The one moment of joy for Murray came as a period of strong returning propelled him from 1-5 to 4-5 with 11 points in a row, but Shapovalov saved two break points in the final game before sealing the first set.

That resurgence did not last long as a steady diet of unforced errors returned to Murray’s game and Shapovalov bossed him around the court throughout the second set. After the first two sets, the roof was erected due to bad light, an event that sparked fightbacks from Murray in his previous two rounds.

Denis Shapovalov demonstrated his all-court game and excellent athleticism in his straight sets victory over Andy Murray. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

But there was to be no recovery this time as Shapovalov maintained his focus and closed out an impressively clean performance with one final nerveless hold. “I told Andy at the net that he is my hero,” said Shapovalov afterwards.

Although Murray was dispirited by the ending, there were ample positives during a thrilling week. With so few matches under his belt, he beat a top-30 player, won multiple rounds over best of five sets and his body held up throughout. It is something he will evidently be grappling with over the coming weeks before the Olympics.

“That’s good, but then there is a part of me that feels a bit like I have put in so much work the last three months and, you know, ultimately didn’t play how I would want and expect, and it’s, like, is it worth it?,” he said. “Is all of that training and everything that you’re doing in the gym, you know, unless you’re able to practice and improve your game and get matches and continue, get a run of tournaments. Is it worth all of the work that you’re doing?”

He continued: ”There is part of me that feels like, yes, it is, because I had great memories from this event and playing in some brilliant atmospheres. But then, also, I finished the match tonight and I’m saying to my team, I’m like, ‘I’m just not happy with how I played.’

“So, unless me and my team can find a way of keeping me on the court for a consistent period of time and allow me to practise the way that I need to to compete with these guys, then, yeah, then that’s when the discussions about what I do next will come in, because I have genuinely put a lot into this to get to this point”