By Alberto Amalfi | Monday, January 25, 2016
"It's been a hard, hard few days," Andy Murray said.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Andy Murray faced the fear of a family health scare before confronting Bernard Tomic in the Australian Open fourth round.
The second-seeded Murray said there was "no chance" he would have played the match, if his father-in-law, coach Nigel Sears, had not recovered from his health issues.
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Sears, who coaches Ana Ivanovic, collapsed during the second set of her match with Madison Keys Saturday night.
The 58-year-old Sears was carried from the stands on a stretcher then taken by ambulance to a local hospital. He underwent a series of tests and has been released from the hospital.
Sears is the father of Murray's pregnant wife, Kim, who is back home in London. Andy Murray said he was prepared to withdraw from the tournament if his father-in-law's health had not improved.
"It was tough. Obviously it depended on Nigel's health obviously," Murray told the media after defeating Tomic. "If the news was not positive, then, no, there was absolutely no chance I would have kept playing.
"It was a tough few days. Certainly wasn't straightforward. Just glad that he's on his way home now and can be back with his family."
The four-time Australian Open finalist said he felt drained off-court and stressed on court.
"To be honest, like today, when I woke up I felt quite drained, quite tired. As the day sort of went on and I decided to play, I started to focus a little bit better," Murray said. "But definitely on the court tonight I was more emotional than normal. I was talking to myself after every single point almost from the first point through till the last, which was obviously not ideal.
"That uses up a lot of energy. Again, just that makes you sort of more kind of up and down throughout the match, as well."
The second-seeded Murray swept Tomic to set up a quarterfinal with eighth-seeded David Ferrer.
Murray, who was playing the third round and unaware of Sears' collapse when it occurred, spent much of his time at the hospital with his father-in-law.
"Yeah, I mean, certainly I was trying to just concentrate on the match when I was out there, but, yeah, like I said, it's been a hard, hard few days," Murray said. "Hopefully gets better the next few days. I just can't believe something like that happened a few days ago. It's shocking. Nige is an unbelievably fit guy. Very, very scary."
Kim Murray is expecting the couple's first child next month.
"It does put things in perspective, for sure. I'm not going into how everyone's dealing with it and stuff," Murray said. "I mean, yeah, it was just a tough, emotional few days at a difficult time, as well. For sure when things like that happen, it does put things in perspective.
"But everyone's just very happy that Nige is doing well, yeah, that he can be back home with his friends and family, be with Kim, as well, at this time. It will be nice for her, I'm sure."