Andy Murray to miss French Open after opting to sit out entire clay court season | Tennis News

Murray: “The past couple of years, the clay has made issues worse, last year I had some issues at the beginning of the year, the clay didn’t help, so I’ve spoken to my team about that and this year while I feel good and healthy, I don’t want to take that risk.”

Andy Murray wants to preserve his body for the grass court season

Andy Murray intends to miss the French Open and the clay court season in its entirety.

The 34-year-old is in Holland for the Rotterdam Open and, as ever of late with the Scot, is doing his best to optimise his chances of playing healthily after a horror run of injuries over recent years.

As a result, Murray is opting to not play on clay this season.

“Right now I am not planning on playing through the clay,” he said ahead of the Rotterdam tournament.

Murray went out in the second round of the Australian Open last month

“The past couple of years, the clay has made issues worse, last year I had some issues at the beginning of the year, the clay didn’t help, so I’ve spoken to my team about that and this year while I feel good and healthy, I don’t want to take that risk.

“It’s not that I wouldn’t potentially play on clay in the future, last year I almost missed Wimbledon, was close to not playing the grass season, I’m not planning on playing the clay, I will still try to compete a bit during that period, I won’t do nothing, that’s my plan just now.

“I had a busy end of last year and hopefully the next couple of months, I won’t take any risks and hopefully get a good build up to the grass season.”