Andy Murray hopes to play French Open despite early Madrid exit
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Britain's Andy Murray in action against Italy's Andrea Vavassori at the Madrid Open on April 27.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
MADRID – Andy Murray has said that he hopes to play at the French Open in May for the first time since 2020, after crashing out in the first round
The three-time Grand Slam champion has played at Roland Garros only once since reaching the 2017 semi-finals, losing in the first round to Stan Wawrinka three years ago. But the veteran Scot believes that he could return to the Parisian clay, after losing 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) to Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori in Madrid.
“I would like to play, just purely because I don’t know if I’ll get another opportunity to play again,” the 35-year-old said on returning to the French Open, where he was runner-up in 2016.
“Whilst I feel fit and healthy, I would like to give it a go.
“I also have ambitions of competing for Wimbledon titles and that sort of stuff, and I know that sitting here today that probably doesn’t sound realistic, but I do believe that that’s a possibility. I obviously want to do the right thing there.
“It’s impossible to say what the right thing to do is, but obviously it’s a Grand Slam. I would like the opportunity to play.”
The Briton, who is a two-time Wimbledon champion, has suffered many injuries during his career, including undergoing major hip operations in recent years.
It remains to be seen if he is fit enough to play, but there are worrying signs when world No. 164 Vavassori turfed out the former world No. 1 in straight sets in the Spanish capital.
Murray was also knocked out in the first round at the Monte Carlo Masters a fortnight ago, describing it as “demoralising” and “awful”.
“Second set started to get into it a bit more. Was playing a bit better, some positive signs,” he said of his Madrid loss. “Some of the errors are hard to explain.”
Vavassori broke the world No. 52 twice to take a 4-0 lead in the first set before serving out, with his opponent unable to force a single break point.
The 27-year-old broke again for 2-1 in the second set but fired into the net to allow Murray back in to level at 4-4.
Vavassori committed a double fault at match point in the tiebreak and the Italian finally clinched victory at the fifth time of asking when Murray erred badly at the net. It is the first time the two-time winner has fallen at the first hurdle in Madrid in 12 appearances.
On Friday, third seed Casper Ruud was stunned 6-3, 6-4 by world No. 105 Italian Matteo Arnaldi, fifth seed Andrey Rublev overcame Wawrinka 7-5, 6-4, while Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina was stunned 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 by 62nd-ranked Anna Kalinskaya. AFP
