Andy Murray withdrew from the Cinch Championships on Monday because of an abdominal injury sustained in Sunday’s Stuttgart final loss to Matteo Berrettini.
“After having a scan this afternoon, an abdominal injury means I won’t be fit to compete at Queen’s this year,” Murray said in a statement. “The tournament means a lot to me, and it’s disappointing not to compete, especially after playing some good matches on the grass already.”
At 100 percent, the 35-year-old would have been one of the favorites to capture the Queen’s Club title considering both his form last week and his history at this tournament. Murray is the all-time leader with five titles. In Stuttgart the former world No. 1 ousted Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios before falling to Matteo Berrettini–last year’s Queen’s Club champion–in three sets.
A two-time Wimbledon champ, Murray is hopeful to play at the All-England Club starting in two weeks and he may even be ready for an exhibition at the Hurlingham Club in a matter of days.
Murray was previously scheduled to face Lorenzo Sonego in the first round on Tuesday. The Scot has been replaced by lucky loser Denis Kudla. Berrettini will kick off his title defense against Great Britain’s Dan Evans, with the winner to meet whoever advances out of the Sonego-Kudla matchup.
Queen’s Club came close to losing another former champion on Monday. Marin Cilic, the winner in 2012 and 2018, squandered a set and a break lead against British wild card Liam Broady but recovered to prevail 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
“It was entertaining, I have to say,” Cilic commented. “And (it was) a little bit nerve-wracking. It’s not easy; first match of the tournament, first match on the grass. [Broady] fought really hard…. He came back and gave me a lot of trouble.”
tough one
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Really wonder where this leaves Andy, realistically, in terms of a competitive future
His body just can’t hold up any more. I thought he might retire at Wimbledon this year. Perhaps he will.
Yeah, very sad. Murray tried to make a comeback but at 35 but the body just can’t take the beating anymore. Rafa is still lucky to be able to still win slams, and Nole too! Coming to think of it, Rafa is the one who made tennis so physical. When i watch the match between Rafa and Novak at RG last year, I really didn’t realise how grueling of a match it was. Only Rafa and Nole can sustain a match with such high intensity and be able to perform the next day. Most other players will just simply wilt.
Anyway, hope Murray recuperates in time for Wimby.
My heart breaks for Andy. He has worked hard to try and come back as a singles player. But time is not on his side.
He came along in such a competitive era. He should have won a boatload of slams. But he did end the British drought. He did win three slams. It was unfortunate that his hip gave out and he had to have surgery to replace it.
I would love to see him one more time at Wimbledon. If he is to retire it should be at the place of his greatest triumph.
NNY, I agree. I admire Andy’s determination, but his body seems to be too fragile for a sustainable comeback. It is sad because he played so well in Stuttgart! I hope he will be ok for Wimledon!
Andy has been a truly great player, who had the misfortune to be active at a time, when three extraterrestials choose to compete on earth, where they collected most of the big titles, and human slam winners became extremely rare. Despite these formidable obstacles Andy managed to win 4 slams, 2 olympic gold medals, 1 year-end championship, and he finished 2016 as the No.1 ranked player. He was the best of the human tennis players – until his body gave up. You guys know all this of course, but I think that Andy is often underrated. The Big Three needed to play their best tennis against Andy, and he won a few big titles by beating at least one of them. He won his first slam trophy at the USO, where he beat Novak in the final. He had to beat Novak again in order to win his first Wimbledon crown, and he also beat Roger in Wimbledon when Andy won his first olympic gold medal. His big wins were definitely no flukes, and it was justified for a while to talk about the Big Four!
The tennis expert Gil Gross who has a great YouTube channel, made a thought experiment: he developed an algorythm which created a parallel universe without the Big Three, and he analysed how different tennis history would have been if Novak, Roger and Rafa had never existed. Obviously Roddick would have been a Wimby champion, and the number of different slam winners would be much higher. But Andy Murray stood out as the player whose career has been most severely impacted by the Big Three. Without them his slam count would have been in the double digits, and he probably would have won the career slam. And we would discuss if Andy Murray or Pistol Pete was the true GOAT 😉
littlefoot,
Yes you are so right! Amy other era and Andy would have had a bunch of slams. To need a hip replacement in your early 30’s is tough! The pain was gone but it left him unable to compete at the level he did before the surgery. He has done well to keep playing and do what he can.
I would like to see him retire at Wimbledon if this is the time for him to go. He gave the Brits in his country something to remember.
Its not the end of the world an abdominal injury. H e played so well last week