The world no. 3 aggravated a groin injury in his 6-4 7-5 loss to David Ferrer today.
Andy Murray may be forced to pull out of the London ATP World Tour Finals after aggravating a groin injury in his 6-4 7-5 loss to David Ferrer.
The subdued British No 1 crashed to a disappointing opening round defeat at the o2 Arena after receiving intensive treatment between sets.
Ferrer pounced to secure a shock straight sets victory and Murray then revealed he may not be able to face Tomas Berdych on Wednesday.
“I’ll decide tomorrow whether or not I keep playing,” said Murray. “You’ve got to sometimes do the right thing.”
Murray is due to play his second Group A fixture on Wednesday, but Janko Tipsarevic will replace him if he is unable to compete.
“It would be gutting,” he added.
The Scot picked up the injury in a training session a few days after his quarter-final loss to Tomas Berdych in the Paris Masters last week.
“I didn’t move particularly great today,” said Murray. “I felt flat.
“I didn’t know exactly how it was going to feel on the court,” he added. “I haven’t been able to do too much training this week.”
He said: “If it wasn’t a Slam or this event, I wouldn’t have played.”
But despite the defeat, Murray is upbeat about his chances of progressing from the group stage if he carries on.
He said: “You can lose and still come through. The last two years I won two matches in the group, and one year I went through and one year I didn’t.
“I think even sometimes you can go through only winning one match, so there’s still a chance.”
The world no. 3 brought the crowd to life with his patented ‘hot dog’ shot early in the second set, but the rest of his performance failed to excite.
The treatment after the first set looked to have done the trick, after Murray came out fighting to break Ferrer immediately.
Murray appeared to find his rhythm, surviving two break points to hold serve at 3-3 and breaking Ferrer in the next game.
But a litany of unforced errors, particularly on his forehand, allowed Ferrer to break back instantly.
And when Murray found himself serving to stay in the match at 6-5, sloppiness again cost him at the crucial moment.
Murray said: “I still had a few chances, especially in the second set. I was a break up in both sets, so it was disappointing.”
But Murray paid credit to his opponent. He said: “He’s just very, very solid. He gives you very few points.
“I still had chances to break him, but on my serve I didn’t do a great job, and he made very few mistakes on the return.”
It was their fourth meeting this year and Ferrer’s first hard court win over Murray after recent defeats in the Shanghai Masters final and Tokyo.
Ferrer said: “Maybe I served better than other times? I played similar like the last time in Shanghai, but maybe in Shanghai he did less mistakes.”
The Spaniard has a mixed history in the tournament, having reached the final when it was held in Shanghai in 2007 but losing all of his matches here last year.
He said: “I played very consistent all the match. Maybe the first set I played better than the second. In the second sometimes I was a little bit nervous.
“In important moments, I take my chance, and nothing else.”
But after getting a perfect start, Ferrer is cautious about his chances of progressing from the group.
“I think it was important to start winning. And if you win with two sets it is better with the group.
“You know you need to win one match more because it is very difficult to pass to the semifinal winning only one match.”
