Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga replace Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner for ATP Rotterdam event

ByMichael Hincks

Updated 03/02/2022 at 09:42 GMT

Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are both past champions in Rotterdam. The pair enter the ATP 500 event as wildcards, with Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner pulling out of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. Medvedev is “not ready” after losing the Australian Open final to Rafael Nadal, while inner cannot travel due to Covid.

Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga have both been granted a Rotterdam wildcard to replace Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner for the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

Medvedev suffered an agonising five-set defeat to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final, with the world No 2 leading by two sets before the Spaniard’s comeback sealed Grand Slam No 21.

"Unfortunately I will not play in Rotterdam this year,” Medvedev said.

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“I just got back from Australia and am not ready to compete. Rotterdam is one of the favourite stops on the Tour and Richard does a great job for the players there. I look forward to coming back in the future.”

Rotterdam’s tournament director Richard Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon champion, had said they were hopeful Medvedev would change his mind on competing – but the tournament in the Netherlands falls to soon for the Russian.

"We were still hopeful that Daniil Medvedev would come back to his earlier statement that he did not want to play another tournament so soon after the lost Australian Open final, but unfortunately he has not lost that feeling yet,” Krajicek said.

“Fortunately, we were able to secure another Grand Slam winner at the last minute with Andy Murray.”

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Murray won the event in Rotterdam back in 2009, beating Nadal in the final, and he receives a wild card for the tournament which starts on Saturday.

The Briton reached the final in Sydney last month, and then reached the second round of the Australian Open, where he lost to Taro Daniel.

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"When you know you've not got many years left it is frustrating," Murray said after the straight-sets defeat in Melbourne.

"I put a lot into the off-season for practising and preparing, hopefully to not play like that in the big tournaments.

"So it is especially disappointing when you perform like that."

Meanwhile, Tsonga is also a past champion, having defeated David Goffin in the final in 2017, and he comes in for Jannik Sinner as the Italian is unable to travel due to Covid.

Krajicek added: "Due to these cancellations and the earlier withdrawal of Bautista Agut and Coric, Botic van de Zandschulp's wildcard was released. We can therefore now give it to Tsonga. He has always been one of the favourites of the Rotterdam fans.”

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