Andy Murray hopeful of playing at Wimbledon despite suffering fresh injury at Queen's - 'Let's hope it will be okay'
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Updated 20/06/2024 at 06:37 GMT
Andy Murray was forced to retire from his second-round match at Queen’s against Jordan Thompson with injury in the opening set. The Scot, who has struggled with a back problem of late and also ruptured ankle ligaments this season, was playing in what is widely expected to be his last appearance at the London tournament.
Murray withdraws from second-round match at Queen's with injury
Andy Murray is hopeful he can still play at Wimbledon after he was forced to retire early in the opening set of his second-round match at Queen’s with injury.
He seemed to injure himself in the warm-up against Jordan Thompson, and although he tried to start the match, it was soon clear that he wouldn't be able to continue.
"Let's hope it will be okay with some rest and treatment, and I'll still be able to play [at Wimbledon]," Murray said afterwards.
"I don't know exactly what the problem is. I hadn't experienced that before. I have no idea how long it will take to get better and what the treatment options are.
"When I walked up the stairs before going out, and in the pre-match warm-up, my back was uncomfortable.
"It was an awkward atmosphere because everyone could see there was a problem and I didn't know if I should play or stop. It's disappointing. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't gone on the court."
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'I wish I hadn't gone on the court' - Murray regrets playing after suffering fresh injury
Murray initially limped out to the court and then seemed to be struggling in his pre-match warm up, stretching his leg and barely pushing off on serve.
The match did begin – but Murray coughed up a break of serve in the opening game, Thompson having more than enough power to dispatch some lacklustre serves with ease.
Murray had needed three sets to beat Alexei Popyrin in the opening round, and it seemed that result might have taken a toll as he wasn’t able to push off on his serves at all.
When he did win a point in the third game, it was greeted with rapturous applause as the crowd did their best to lift their favourite – and he duly held to more cheers.
But with the score 2-1 to his opponent, Murray called for the trainer. It seemed to be a lower back issue – a new one he later confirmed, rather than a continuation of the problem that has plagued him since he came back from his ankle injury.
Thompson was doing his best to maintain concentration at the other end of the court when the match resumed, doing what he needed to – but all eyes were on Murray.
The Scot has recently indicated that he thinks the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris would be a fitting place to retire, but so much is going to be dependent on his fitness moving forward.
The trainer returned with the score 4-1 to Thompson, and that was when Murray decided enough was enough. He walked straight to his opponent to shake hands, to sympathetic applause from the crowd.
"Never the way you want to go through, especially with a champion like Andy. This tournament, he’s dominated, he loves the grass," said Thompson afterwards, as he did his best to thank the crowd who were clearly reeling from the sight of their home hero limping off court, most likely for the last time at a tournament where he has won a record five times.
With so little time until Wimbledon begins, thoughts now turn as to whether Murray will be able to take part in the third Grand Slam of the year - and how severe this latest injury is.
Korda and Fritz advance
Earlier at Queen's, Sebastian Korda came through an entertaining and high-quality match against Grigor Dimitrov in three sets. He needed the best part of two hours to dispatch the No. 3 seed and will play the qualifier Rinky Hijikata in the quarter-finals.
Hijikata had opened proceedings on centre court on Wednesday, defeating the Italian Matteo Arnaldi in two tie-breaks to set up a first ever meeting with Korda.
Carlos Alcaraz was gifted a rest day on Wednesday, with his second-round match against Jack Draper likely to be on the schedule for Thursday at Queen's.
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Taylor Fritz of United States plays a forehand against Milos Raonic of Canada during the Men's Singles Round of 16 match on Day Three of the cinch Championships at The Queen's Club
Image credit: Getty Images
The last singles match of the day featured two 6’5’’ big servers in Taylor Fritz and Milos Raonic. Predictably the first set didn’t feature any break points, with Fritz just about taking it in a tiebreak despite both suddenly tightening up and hitting unforced errors at crucial moments.
Fritz did leak three break points early in the second set but managed to scrape a hold, and from there it looked to all the world like the match was heading to another tiebreak. But at 4-4 in the second, Fritz managed to sneak a down the line winner to break the Canadian for the first time.
The American duly served it out for a 7-6 (5) 6-4 win, and set up a quarter-final against Thompson.
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