Andy Murray withdraws from Roland Garros to prioritise Wimbledon

Andy Murray has withdrawn from the French Open in order to ramp up his preparations for the grass-court season in the build-up to Wimbledon

New Delhi: Former world no. 1 British Andy Murray has withdrawn from the French Open in order to ramp up his preparations for the grass-court season in the build-up to Wimbledon, which starts on July 3.

The former French Open finalist’s name has now been removed from the entry list on the Roland-Garros website, Eurosport reported.

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Earlier, clarifying his thinking on Roland Garros, Murray had said he was hoping to play in the year’s second Grand Slam and said: “I would like to play, just purely because I don’t know if I’ll get another opportunity to play again. Whilst I feel fit and healthy, I would like to give it a go.”

The three-time Grand Slam winner’s best showing at the event was his 2016 defeat to Novak Djokovic in the final.

The Brit, who was bidding to revive his career after major hip surgery in 2018, entered clay-court tournaments this season at Monte Carlo, Madrid and the Italian Open in preparation for a potential run at the French, but suffered first-round defeats at all three events.

He did beat Tommy Paul in the final of the ATP Challenger event in Aix-en-Provence early May to secure his first title at any level since 2019. But followed that with a heavy defeat against Wawrinka at the Bordeaux Challenger event.

Murray is the latest big name to pull out of the clay court major, following Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios.

The French Open, the second Grand Slam of the year, takes place from 28 May to 11 June