Posted in: 13/06/2022 – 22:24
Paris (AFP) – British tennis player Andy Murray announced Monday that he has withdrawn from the Queen’s English International Preparatory Tournament for Wimbledon due to an abdominal muscle injury.
“I had a CT scan this afternoon and I have an abdominal muscle injury that prevents me from preparing for this year’s Queens tournament,” the Scot, 47th in the world, said in a press release published by the tournament organisers.
Wray had admitted on Sunday, after losing the final of the Stuttgart tournament in Germany at the beginning of the season on the grass to Italian Matteo Berrettini, that he was concerned about the condition of his abdominal muscles.
“I need to do the tests to find out more,” he said.
“I felt pain in my stomach muscle when I was serving (in the second part of the match), it has never happened to me before,” added the former world number one, who played nine matches in two weeks.
On Monday, Murray said he was very disappointed not to be able to participate in the Queen’s Tournament, which he won five times (a record), because “he has played good matches on grass this season.”
Murray was scheduled to meet Italian Lorenzo Sonego, ranked 32 in the world, in the first round. With his withdrawal, the Italian will play the lucky loser, Denis Kudla, ranked 82 in the world.
The Wimbledon Championships, the third Grand Slam that the Briton won twice (2013 and 2016), will start on June 27.
The first day’s competition saw Britain’s Cameron Nouri exit third, Americans Taylor Fritz fourth and Riley Opelka eighth, losing the first to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the 2014 champion and 22nd in the world, 7-6 (7-2), 1-6, 4-6 in one hour and 59 minutes, and the second against the Briton Jack Draper 3-6, 2-6 in one hour and 13 minutes, and the third in front of Australian Alex de Minaur 4-6, 4-6.
The seventh Croatian Marin Cilic, who reached the semi-finals of the French Open, the second Grand Slam, struggled to beat the other Briton Liam Brody 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 in two hours and nine minutes.
© 2022 AFP