Chris Kermode, tournament director of the AEGON Championships which begin at London’s Queen’s Club on Monday will spend an anxious couple of days after Andy Murray, top seed, defending champion and main attraction, refused to guarantee his involvement after a physically demanding French Open.
Murray, beaten in the Roland Garros quarter finals by David Ferrer, will travel back to London today, but after suffering back issues for the last month and admitting to feeling fatigue during his last match, will have long discussions with coach Ivan Lendl, physiotherapist Andy Ireland, fitness trainer Matt Little and his doctors before announcing he will certainly play.
In April Murray’s agents XIX Entertainment negotiated a five year agreement for the world no.4 to play the London event he has won twice but obviously fitness issues could see him drop out at any time.
After losing to Ferrer he admitted: “I will sit down with the guys and discuss what I am going to do over the next two weeks before Wimbledon starts. I will do what’s best for my preparation and it’s not a disaster if I can’t play a tournament before Wimbledon. ”
Murray will not be required to play at Queen’s Club until next Tuesday at the earliest but he continued: “I need to get some good physical work in between now and Wimbledon. I need to make sure I am in slightly better shape. I think that is going to be important for me. I was a little bit out of breath after some of the longer rallies today.”
This year the AEGON Championships will be without Rafael Nadal whose long term agreement came to end last year and instead he will head to Germany where he is contracted to play the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. Besides Murray, the other main attractions at Queen’s Club are last year’s runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro.
Topics: AEGON Championships, Andy Murray