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Andy Murray says his exertions at Wimbledon are partly to blame for his US Open defence coming to an end in his quarter-final clash with Stanislas Wawrinka.
The Brit struggled throughout his last eight contest with the Swiss, who played some outstanding tennis to reach his first ever semi-final of a Grand Slam.
Murray failed to earn a single break point and made 30 unforced errors as his dreams of retaining his title at Flushing Meadows were dashed in two hours and 15 minutes, Wawrinka coming through 6-4 6-3 6-2.
The defeat was one of the worst Murray had suffered at a major since he was beaten by the same opponent in the third round of the US Open three years ago.
The two-time Grand Slam champion has struggled for form since becoming Britain's first homegrown Wimbledon champion in 77 years in January and has hinted that he has struggled to get fired up for the last major in New York after his success at SW19.
Murray said: "It's been challenging both (mentally and physically) for different reasons.
"I've played some extremely tough matches in that period. The last few games of Wimbledon to you guys may not seem like much, but to me it was extremely challenging.
"When you work hard for something for a lot of years, it's going to take a bit of time to really fire yourself up and get yourself training 110%.
"That's something that I think is kind of natural after what happened at Wimbledon. But I got here. I have been here nearly three weeks now.
"I practised a lot and played quite a lot of matches as well. So I gave myself a chance to do well because I prepared properly."
Murray is now set to have a bit of a break before the final three tournaments of the season, with his next appearance scheduled to be at the Shanghai Masters on 6th January.
As for Wawrinka, he goes on to face world number Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals after the Serb survived a tough test from Mikhail Youzhny.
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