ANDY MURRAY FEELS he is at the peak of his powers despite a surprise defeat to Marin Cilic in the Western and Southern Open final and the world number two is ready for another assault on the US Open.
Murray reeled off a career-best run of 22 consecutive singles victories before Cilic consigned the Brit to a 6-4 7-5 defeat in the Cincinnati showdown on Sunday.
A shoulder injury hampered Murray on his run to yet another final, which came on the back of a successful Rio defence of the Olympic gold medal he won at Wimbledon four years ago.
Murray took his loss to Cilic on the chin and has turned his attention to claiming back-to-back grand slam titles at Flushing Meadows next week, having claimed a second Wimbledon title last month.
He said: “I think I’m playing my best tennis just now. It’s not even close to anything else I had done before. Seven finals in a row, winning Wimbledon again, and the Olympics. It’s been really good.
“I really didn’t expect to be here [in the final in Cincinnati]. It’s obviously disappointing when you get to the final and don’t win, but it was a very, very positive week considering everything.
“Mentally I’m in a good place just now. So I’m looking forward to New York for sure.”
When asked about the extent of his injury, the Scot said: “After the first match I played, I was having problems with my shoulder.
“I did speak about it with my team, but my physio was pretty confident that it was just fatigue, and that I didn’t have any sort of structural damage in my shoulder.
“When it was said that I wasn’t going to make it worse by playing, I thought, ‘Let’s go for it this week. Let’s try and get through as many matches as we can’.”
The 136th US Open gets under way next Monday.
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