Michael Berrer was left bemoaning his lack of a killer instinct at the French Open on Saturday after he let an injured Andy Murray off the hook.
The Scot was left flat on his back in agony after jarring his right ankle when making a shot at the start of the second set of their third round tie, having already won the first.
It looked as though Murray was finished, but after treatment he decided to play on, albeit in a reduced physical state.
But instead of taking advantage of his opponent’s woes, the 30-year-old Berrer surrendered meekly and he admitted he only had himself to blame.
“Really I’m very, very disappointed. That was a very big chance,” said Berrer, who was playing in the third round of a Grand Slam event for the first time.
“I think a chance like this you get maybe once in your life, and it’s not an excuse, but the way I am is that I’m feeling sorry for him. Mentality is like that a little bit.
“I should have hurt him when he’s down, but that’s difficult for me. So I was feeling sorry for him
“It was making me so tight; I couldn’t really focus or get a clear thought. I think you cannot play worse in this situation than I did.
“Like in Germany we have a saying that an injured deer has to fall.”
But if Murray can be thankful that his opponent on this occasion was Mr Nice guy, he would be unwise to expect the same consideration from fourth-round opponent Victor Troicki, whom he has beaten in all three previous matches.
The 15th seeded Serb defeated Aleksandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and warned that no quarter would be given, or expected, in their fourth round match-up.
“Obviously if he’s injured and cannot run, I’m going to take advantage of that,” said Troicki, who won the decisive rubber against France in Belgrade in December to give Serbia their first Davis Cup win.
“I want to win my match; he would also do the same if I had the same problem.
“We are all professionals, so we try to win. Sometimes it’s ugly, but that’s our job.”
Troicki revealed that he too was playing below his best due to a bout of food poisening that laid him low on Thursday.
“On Thursday I didn’t sleep at all, so that was the worst time,” he said.
“But, still I’m feeling pretty bad, so … we’ll see on Monday how we are going to feel.” – AFP