Murray injury setback

ANDY MURRAY’S reign at the top of the world rankings is safe for now – but how long he can stay there is in serious doubt after he was forced to withdraw from the Miami Open with an elbow injury.

The tournament in Florida, which gets underway today, was a chance for the Scot to put another 2,000 points between himself and world No 2 Novak Djokovic, who is also suffering an arm issue, but then came the news of his injury.

The details of the problem are sketchy at best – he was practising in Key Biscayne in Florida just a couple of days ago – and there seemed little sign of the problem as he crashed out of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells last weekend.

“Unfortunately due to a right elbow injury I won’t be able to play in Miami,” Murray said in an official statement. “Apologies to the fans, it’s one of my favourite tournaments. The focus now is on getting ready for the clay season.”

He was wearing tape on his elbow last week in Indian Wells but the fact that he went out for extra serving practice after losing to Vasek Pospisil in the second round and played in the doubles a couple of days later gave no indication he was struggling.

After the Miami Open, the tour moves back to Europe for the clay-court season and Murray has a packed schedule ahead of him, starting with Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final against France which begins on April 7.

From there he has Masters 1000 events in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome before the French Open begins. That is a total of 3,160 points to defend over a two-month stretch. At the moment, he is 3,090 points ahead of Djokovic.

The Serb, though, has also pulled out of the Miami Open after going home to Monte Carlo for tests on his right elbow following his fourth-round loss to Nick Kyrgios in the Indian Wells event.