Injured Murray facing race to be fit in time for Wimbledon
Andy Murray faces a race to be fit for Wimbledon after the Scot revealed he has suffered a serious ankle injury while playing at the Miami Open and will be sidelined for an “extended period”.
Murray hurt his ankle deep into the final set during Sunday night’s match against Tomas Machac in the third round of the tournament before going on to lose in a final-set tiebreak.
The 36-year-old has now discovered the severity of the injury, breaking the news on social media that he has ruptured his anterior talo-fibular ligament (ATFL) and has a near-full rupture of his calcaneofibular ligament (CFL).
Posting on Instagram late on Monday evening, Murray wrote: “Yesterday towards the end of my match in Miami I suffered a full rupture of my
ATFL and near full thickness rupture of my CFL. I will see an ankle specialist when I return home to determine next steps. Goes without saying this is a tough one to take and I’ll be out for an extended period. But I’ll be back with 1 hip and no ankle ligaments when the time is right.” Murray has plans to retire from tennis in the summer and was expected to play the clay court swing and French Open at Roland Garros before moving on to the grass court season in June and July, culminating in Wimbledon. He had also expressed a desire to have one more shot at the Olympics, which are held in Paris at the start of August. The final Slam of the year, the US Open, takes place in September.
However, his latest injury all but ends Murray’s hopes of playing on the red dirt and will hamper his preparations for Wimbledon.
The French Open begins on May 20 and it is likely the
Scot will prioritise SW19 at the start of the July, where he is a former two-time champion. While Murray has not put a timescale on his return, an ATFL tear normally takes at least two months to fully heal, although often longer. He will visit an ankle specialist when he returns home to the UK from Florida later this week.
Meanwhile, British number one Katie Boulter missed out on a place in the Miami Open quarter-finals after she lost in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka.
Boulter had broken new ground with victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia in the previous round to reach the last16 of the tournament for the first time, but saw her journey in Florida end after she was ground down by her veteran opponent.
A marathon first set went the way of former world number one Azarenka and it proved pivotal with Boulter unable to keep up her level in set two before she lost 7-5 6-1.
Two-time Australian Open championazarenkalookedon course to cruise past the recent San Diego Open winner when she established a 5-2 lead in the first set.
World number 30 Boulter had already faced a string of break points by this point, but had to save a number of set points in what proved a decisive eighth game.
It spurred Boulter on and she broke back against the Belarusian before she held again to level at 5-5.
However, with a tie-breaker on the horizon, Azarenka showed her experience to claim another break against the Briton before she closed out a 71-minute first set.
The momentum had firmly swung now and Azarenka went on to break Boulter at the start of the second.
Another break followed before another poor service return by Boulter sealed Azarenka’s passage into the last eight.
I’ll be back with 1 hip and no ankle ligaments when the time is right