Dubai: The Arab world’s best men’s tennis player hopes to continue with his evolution despite bowing out to world number one Andy Murray 4-6, 1-6 from the Dubai Tennis Championships late on Tuesday.
Malek Jaziri went down in straight sets, but not before some gutsy display against the best player in the world.
Jaziri matched Murray in the first set, and was in fact the final one to break his more illustrious opponent and lead 2-1.
But Murray broke back immediately and then doubled the advantage to take the first set in 46 minutes.
The second set turned out to be an anti-climax with Jaziri struggling with his rhythm and a throbbing head.
He called for the physio, but that didn’t help too much as the Briton whizzed through with ease.
Despite the defeat, Jaziri gladly took home the experience of yet again playing a world number one in Dubai.
“I take a lot of good things from here certainly,” Jaziri disclosed. “I have improved in a lot of good things after playing all these top players. I have improved in my backhand and my overall game. I will continue on this path and start focusing on other things as well. I want to be a well-rounded player.”
In 2013, Jaziri started off his season against top seed Roger Federer against whom he lost in three tight sets 5-7, 6-0, 6-2. With a career-high No 47 until last week, Jaziri advanced to the quarter-finals where he went down 2-6, 3-6 to Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2014, and in the following year the Tunisian lost a close tie against Borna Coric in their first round meeting.
Last year, Jaziri once again made it past the first round, but once against found another world number one in Novak Djokovic who brushed him aside 6-1, 6-2.
“All these experiences are good for my game, and I will be sitting and discussing with my coach later on things we need to improve,” Jaziri said.
