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Your support makes all the difference.Andy Murray refused to make excuses for his five-set defeat to Fernando Verdasco in the last 16 of the Australian Open, acknowledging his opponent was the better player.
Murray, who had complained of a sore throat and headaches before his third-round win over Austria's Jurgen Melzer, appeared to be suffering in the intense Melbourne heat in and was desperately off form in the 2-6 6-1 1-6 6-3 6-4 win for the Spaniard.
But he said: "If you're sick, there are some things you can't do as well as you might like.
"But you just have to deal with it. If you go on the court and play, then you do everything you can with what you've got.
"If I say that I'm sick and it affected me, I know it's going to be like, 'Well, he's making excuses for losing.'
"I don't feel that was the reason why I lost. I didn't feel terrible at all. I had my chances."
Murray paid tribute to Verdasco's performance, adding: "He served incredibly in the fourth and fifth sets. He served huge.
"The fourth set, I think he served 93 per cent first serves. Sometimes you've just got to say too good, he played better than me."
The Scotsman admitted he missed opportunities to clinch the match and continue his quest for a first grand slam title.
"I had my chances," he said.
"Even though I didn't play my best, in the second set and the beginning of the fourth set I had chances to get back into the fourth set.
"Also had a chance to go up in the fifth set.
"I definitely did have my chances but he played too well."
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