Andy Murray has had a difficult last few months in tennis. He got knocked out in the second round of the Wimbledon 2023 tournament and after that, lost in the Round of 16 to Taylor Fritz in Washington. That defeat proved to be punishing as Murray withdrew prior to his Rogers Cup Round of 16 clash against eventual champion Jannik Sinner as he revealed that he is suffering from an abdominal strain. And now, with Murray set to skip Cincinnati Masters as well, questions are being asked about his participation at the US Open.
Not playing in the Cincinnati Masters would affect his seeding and ranking for sure, but also his chances at the US Open 2023. Murray is an inspiration for many but now question marks are being raised on his fitness and ability to consistently win for long periods of time on any surface.
Andy Murray Grand Slams and ranking
Murray not only sparked fears of missing out on the US Open but also his retirement as he claimed in a press conference that 2023 will be the last time he would be playing in Canada. Earlier this year, the Scottish star had missed the Dubai Open due to a recurring hip injury. Plus he is being very cautious with his body in order to not succumb to the rigors of year-long tennis, as he had withdrawn from the French Open this year.
Yet the Andy Murray ranking at present is 36 as he has a 12-11 win record this year. On the other hand, the Andy Murray Grand Slams win count is 3 and he had won the US Open once, back in 2012.
The superstar remembers the surgery he went through, due to which he was made to wear a metal hip back in 2019. It has taken him four years to come out of oblivion being unranked to No.36 in the world, even though he may not be seeded at the US Open. He does not seem to be fazed by his defeats and injuries. Andy Murray was quoted as saying in an interview to The Guardian –
“Obviously, I’d like to be doing better. I would like to be ranked higher. I’d like to have had more runs at the bigger events and everything. But also, I have to try at times, you have to keep things in perspective. I’m at my highest ranking I’ve been since I had the operation on my hip. I’m really proud of that.
“I had that operation a really long time ago. It has taken lots and lots of hard work and effort to get back to the top 40 in the world and I still feel like before the year’s out that I can push that even higher. I don’t think that this is like the limit for me. I do think that I can get myself much higher.”
Andy Murray might not be the only high-profile name to miss out on the US Open this time. Nick Kyrgios of Australia has already confirmed that he has returned home to recover from his knee and wrist injuries.
Murray opens up about Wimbledon 2023 failure against Tsitsipas
Andy Murray nearly achieved the unthinkable, dragging World No.4 Stefanos Tsitsipas into a 5-set duel in the Round of 64 at Wimbledon 2023. That made the 2013 and 2016 champion reevaluate his game by having honest and open conversations with his team. It shows Murray has the desire to be amongst the best players in the world again, although he also cannot say for sure whether he would play at Wimbledon next year. He was quoted as saying in the same interview –
“I wasn’t that happy with how I played in the [Tsitsipas] match, to be honest. I made some changes to my game after the match, had a couple of long, long chats with my team about how I wanted to improve the shots that I wanted to improve and, if I’m going to win those matches and compete at the highest level, how it is I need to go about doing that.”
Remarkably, Murray had taken videos of the final match between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic as a spectator in order to understand the gameplay of both the champions and learn from them. He believes that he played a good match against Taylor Fritz although he lost to him in Washington as he nearly pushed him to a defeat like he did with Tsitsipas, another top 10 player.
