Just a day after Andy Murray’s video from a practice session at the Cincinnati Masters made rounds on social media, relieving fans of a concern over his participation in the event and that in US Open as well after he withdrew from Canadian Open last week, the 36-year-old cited the same issue to pull out of the Masters tournament in Ohio on Tuesday, ahead of his opener against Karen Khachanov. The announcement once again sparked concerns over his participation in the US Open.
Murray looked in impressive form as he scripted wins against Lorenzo Sonego and Max Purcell in the Toronto last week. He was then slated to face Jannik Sinner in the round of 16 to make his best ever run in an ATP 1000 event in seven years. But he pulled out of the match in the 11th hour citing abdominal strain.
Amid the concern over his injury and with the US Open a fortnight away, Murray was spotted in Ohio training in the eve of the start of the men’s singles main draw event. However, on Tuesday, he announced his withdrawal as the injury issue remained. Khachanov will now face a lucky loser in Tuesday’s match as the Russian himself looks to comeback from a groin injury.
Deja vu for Murray
The three-time Grand Slam winner had admitted in Toronto that the injury is similar to that he incurred in Stuttgart final last year. Murray was later forced to miss his home tournament at the Queen’s leaving his underprepared for Wimbledon. And while he opined that he such would not happen this summer with the US Open as he aims to be a seeded player in the final Grand Slam of the calendar year, things seem to be headed the same way.
“I had a very similar issue last year in the tournament in Stuttgart before Wimbledon which forced me to miss the Queen’s Club tournament and I was able to play Wimbledon,” he said. “It took me about 10 to 12 days before I was feeling good again.”
Amid rising question over retirement from the press and having to convince himself as well as to how far he would want to continue, US Open will present a perfect platform to shut all the talk. The Scot himself admitted that although he he ranked 36th in the world he has been playing his best tennis since his hip operation.
“Obviously, I’d like to be doing better,” he was quoted by Guardian. “I would like to be ranked higher. I’d like to have had more runs at the bigger events and everything. But also, I have to try to keep things in perspective. I’m at my highest ranking I’ve been since I had the operation on my hip. I’m really proud of that.
“I had that operation a really long time ago. It has taken lots and lots of hard work and effort to get back to the top 40 in the world and I still feel like before the year’s out that I can push that even higher. I don’t think that this is the limit for me. I do think that I can get myself much higher.”
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