MURRAY PULLS OUT OF FRENCH OPEN TO FOCUS ON WIMBLEDON
ANDY MURRAY has pulled out of the French Open to focus on a grasscourt season in which he still believes he can make an impact. The Scot, 36, was beaten heavily last week by Stan Wawrinka at the Bordeaux Challenger tournament, and that appears to have made up Murray’s his mind to next abandon event is hisclayis claycourt season. likely to be the grasscourt - curtain raiser, another Challenger which takes place in Surbiton, London, during the second week of the French Open. Murray’s performances on the e clay have rather summed up the strange, nge, undulating passage of his whole season. He wass badly beaten on several occasions, but in the middle of it won a tournament in Aix-en-Provence, his first title since 2019.
His skills and experience on grass should make him a formidable opponent.
The French Open qualifying event begins today, with three British men and seven British women taking part. Daniil Medvedev last night established himself as a contender contend for the tournament tourname when he defeated Denmark’s Holger Rune 7-5, 7-5 to win the Italian Open. The Russian had never won a match in Rome previously, but has been rapidly improving on the clay. The match was delayed as bad weather continued to plague the tournament right to the end. It followed farcical scenes late on Saturday night when rain meant that the women’s final — played as a separate ticket session — did not start until past 11pm. Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina took the title when her Ukrainian opponent, Anhelina Kalinina, was forced to retire at 6-4, 1-0 down due to injury.
The presentation ceremony was marred by shambolic organisation and both the Italian officials and WTA chief executive Steve Simon were booed by the crowd.
The trophies were presented in the wrong order and several times the names of the two finalists were mixed up. A sponsor representative seemed unaware of who he should be presenting the runners-up trophy to. The players later denied suggestions from the tournament that they had wanted the match to go ahead at such a late hour, suggesting that they were given no choice. Meanwhile, Jack Draper — playing his first tournament in five weeks after injury — yesterday beat Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-2, 6-3 at the ATP event in Lyon.