Andy Murray withdraws from French Open | Tennis News

Andy Murray returned to action in last week’s Madrid Open, beating Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov, before having to pull out of what would have been a first clash with Novak Djokovic since 2017 because of illness

Andy Murray has pulled out of the French Open that will start next week

Andy Murray has withdrawn from this month’s French Open and will focus on building up towards Wimbledon.

The Scot, who turned 35 on Sunday, said in February he would skip the whole clay-court season but then changed his mind and took a wildcard into last week’s Madrid Open.

He produced some of his best form since hip surgery to reach the third round, beating Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov before having to pull out of what would have been a first clash with Novak Djokovic since 2017 because of illness.

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Andy Murray beat Denis Shapovalov 6-1 3-6 6-2 in the second round of the Madrid Open. (Pictures: Amazon Prime Video)

He remained in the Roland Garros draw and it appeared Murray, who has reunited with coach Ivan Lendl, could opt to play in the year’s second grand slam after all, but he has now pulled out and is sticking to his original plan.

Murray has only played the French Open once since 2017, suffering a first-round exit in 2020. The three-time grand slam winner hasn’t gone further than the third round of a slam since a run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals five years ago.

Murray now plans to return to the UK to prepare for the grass-court season, which begins in early June, with Wimbledon then taking place from June 27.

Quite where Murray will play on grass remains to be seen, though, as the tennis world waits for decisions from the ATP and WTA on how to respond to Wimbledon and the Lawn Tennis Association’s banning of Russian and Belarusian players from this summer’s tournaments.

The removal of all ranking points is very much on the table and would severely affect the tour events in particular.

Murray had talked about potentially playing in the Surbiton Trophy, a second-tier Challenger event in London beginning on May 30, before heading to Stuttgart for the ATP tournament the following week.