Andy Murray to skip clay court tours, including French Open in coming months

Andy Murray has announced that he would not play on clay in the near future in order to maximise his chances of competing at Wimbledon later this year.

The three-time Grand Slam winner will not compete in the French Open, as he did last year.

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Murray, who is presently ranked 102 in the world, has battled to reclaim his previous glory since undergoing significant hip surgery in 2019 to address a career-threatening hip issue.

“I am not planning on playing through the clay, the past couple of years, the clay has made issues worse, I don’t want to take that risk,” Murray was quoted as saying by the BBC.

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“Last year I almost missed Wimbledon and was close to not playing the grass season. I had a busy end of last year and the next couple of months. I won’t take any risks and hopefully get a good build-up to the grass season,” he added.

Murray will make his first appearance since falling in the second round of the Australian Open at the Rotterdam Open next week.

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In January, the 34-year-old made it to the final of the Sydney International, but lost to Russia’s Aslan Karatsev.

“Right now I am not planning on playing through the clay,” Murray said on Sunday. “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.”

Vallverdu will accompany him to Rotterdam, where he will arrive on Sunday, but Murray recognises that in the long run, he will have to find elsewhere to solve his coaching quandary. “It’s not been easy to find someone,” he said.

“Obviously, Stan Warwinka has been rehabbing for quite a long time and is hopefully coming back to the tour but he agreed for Dani to come and work with me for a few weeks over the next month or so which is great for me in the short term but still trying to find a longer-term solution,” he added.

He concluded saying, “It’s not that straightforward, I’m not as in demand as a few years ago. Ultimately, I want it to be the right person. I’m aware there’s no perfect setup, but medium, longer term I want some stability and will try and get that in the next few weeks.”