Murray Is Worried About His Muscle Strain

Written by: Staff on 3rd November 2011

Murray Is Worried About His Muscle Strain

Injured British tennis player Andy Murray leaves the pitch of the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, 02 November 2011. Murray has pulled out of the tournament because of a leg injury. EPA/GEORGIOS KEFALAS |

World no.3 and British national sporting icon Andy Murray is concerned the mysterious gluteus muscle strain which forced him out of the current Swiss Indoors event in Basel and casts doubts over his ability to play next week’s BNP Paribas Masters at Paris Bercy could affect his chances at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at London’s 02 Arena, starting in 17 days time.

Murray, who is on a 15-match winning streak after a triple of Asian titles in Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai, withdrew from Basel shortly before his first-round match against Dutchman Robin Haase was scheduled to begin.

The 24 year-old Scot, granted a late wild card into the Swiss event by tournament director Roger Brennwald, maintained: “I was struggling to walk,” said Murray, the world number three.

“I trained twice on Monday and felt fine after that. Then I woke up with a start at around 3am on Tuesday . I’ve no idea where the injury came from or how it happened. Maybe I slept in the wrong position.

“It was a bit better on Tuesday morning and I went to a pool for some exercises and had a light hit. But this morning [Wednesday] I knew it was still not good enough.”

Meantime he was afforded minimal sympathy from home town hero Roger Federer, pushed down to third place in the seedings list of a tournament he has won three times.

If the seedings of the St Jakobshalle event had gone to plan, Murray and Federer would have clashed in the semi-final. However the Swiss said: “I never saw him as a potential opponent anyway because I’m too focused on what I have to do. I am sure it is somewhat disappointing for the tournament director after going through all the headaches with the wild cards.”

Murray intends to travel to Paris today and then spend four or five days resting the injury while taking anti-inflammatory treatment. The Paris event, which he stressed a desire to win while in Shanghai although he has never previously progressed beyond the quarter finals, begins in earnest on Monday.

Murray was replaced in the draw by Swiss Marco Chiudinelli, who subsequently lost the match against Haase 6-2 7-6. There was an added blow for Murray’s elder brother Jamie who elected to play Basel despite having title winning points to defend in Valencia.

“DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”

Topics: Andy Murray