Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

Former British player and current television commentator Annabel Croft believes that fatherhood has hit Andy Murray hard, affecting the tennis being played this season by the world No. 2. The proof has to be in the Scot’s 2016 results, which have included an Australian Open finals loss to Novak Djokovic and poor showings in the March Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami.

Now, Murray is back in Europe with points to defend over the clay season which begins for the elite at Monte Carlo Masters a week from Sunday.

“Life has just changed for him and he’s just trying to regain momentum, but at the moment it’s a bit of struggle,” Croft said. “He hasn’t played a lot of tennis this year. He took time off when his wife had their first baby. He looked tired and emotionally drained. It’s something that we never, ever throw at Andy that he could lose a match for a lack of fitness.”

Miami, where Murray has a training base, was the first event where he played with wife Kim and newborn Oliva present, and the change in lifestyle may take some getting used to for the 27-year-old.

“I know he had his family over in Miami,” Croft added. “Having had three children myself, you know that if there’s a baby in the house you can’t get away from it and if it’s crying at night, your sleep is going to be a little bit disrupted.”

Murray has won just two matches since becoming a father last month, but has points coming off form 2015 clay titles in Munich and Madrid coming off. He was plagued by more than 50 unforced errors as he exited this week in Miami to Grigor Dimitrov and also exploded with rage against this player box as well as trashing a racquet.

“He’s probably a little bit more drained in every area and suddenly there’s a lot more to think of off the court than there has been in the past,” said Croft. “I definitely think it’s affected him. He will be very disappointed with the loss because he’s below par and he’s not at the level that we’ve come to expect from Andy Murray.”

Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.