Andy Murray is ousted at Wimbledon by Grigor Dimitrov

Andy Murray, the king of tennis in the United Kingdom, got sent home early at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

Murray, the Scot who was the defending champion and pride of the tennis world here that considers Wimbledon the sacred cathedral of the sport, said he had “a bad day at the office.�

It was probably that simple.

He was beaten by another up-and-coming young tennis talent, 23-year-old Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. Dimitrov started fast and finished the same way in a 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory. Dimitrov hit 10 aces and had 32 winners and outdid Murray in almost all statistical categories.

Murray said he was nervous the first day of the tournament, when he had to play the first match on Center Court. But after that, he said he thought he handled the expectations of his country of tennis fans quite well.

“Today, he was just a better player, start to finish,� Murray said.

Dimitrov made his first-ever advancement into a Grand Slam semifinal and was scheduled to play the winner of a match still going on between No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Marin Cilic of Croatia.

Murray’s departure marked the second by one of the Big Four of men’s tennis. Rafael Nadal was upset by a 19-year-old Australian, Nick Kyrgios, on Tuesday, and the other two, Roger Federer and Djkokovic, were in the midst of tough matches Wednesday.