Andy Murray withdraws from French Open after name removed from entry list for Roland-Garros

ByEurosport

Updated 21/05/2023 at 13:03 GMT

Andy Murray will not play at the French Open this year. The former world No. 1 has played at Roland-Garros once since 2017 – and that appearance ended in a first-round loss to Stan Wawrinka in 2020. Murray had said previously that he would like to play Roland-Garros one more time before he retires, but has elected to skip this year's event as preparations for the grass-court season ramp up.

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Andy Murray has withdrawn from the French Open.

The former French Open finalist's name was removed from the entry list on the Roland-Garros website on Sunday.

Murray had previously said that he wanted to play at Roland-Garros “one more time” before retiring. However, the 36-year-old has now elected to withdraw from this year’s tournament.

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The three-time Grand Slam winner’s best showing at the event was his 2016 defeat to Novak Djokovic in the final.

However, he has only made one appearance at the French Open since making the semi-finals in 2017, with Stan Wawrinka beating him in the first round in 2020.

Murray entered clay-court tournaments at Monte Carlo, Madrid and the Italian Open in preparation for a potential run at the French, but suffered first-round defeats at all three events.

The Brit did win a challenger event – the Open Aix-en-Provence – in early May but followed that with a heavy defeat against Wawrinka at the Bordeaux Challenger event.

Murray had previously said that he planned to play Roland-Garros as long as his body held up.

"My plan just now is to play in Rome, Madrid and hopefully the French Open, providing my body is good," Murray said in Doha following a victory over Lorenzo Sonego in the first round of the Qatar Open in February.

"I’ll do a training block after Miami on the clay, I’m going to do that in Europe somewhere for three or four weeks. I’ll train, try and get my body used to the clay courts and monitor how my body is feeling.”

The former world No. 1 said in the same interview that he wanted to right the wrongs of a straight sets first-round defeat to Stan Wawrinka three years ago.

"Physically, I was not good the year I played against Wawrinka,” he said.

"I’d like to get the opportunity to play it one more time before I stop playing. While I feel physically really good, I would like to play there again.”

The French Open begins on May 28.

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