Andy Murray to defend Olympic tennis title at Tokyo Games
The two-time Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray will defend his title this summer after being named in Team GB for the Tokyo Games.
Murray, who won the singles titles at London 2012 and Rio 2016, will compete in singles and partner Londonborn Joe Salisbury, the 2020 Australian Open doubles champion.
“The Olympics means a huge amount to me, it’s a massive honour to be able to compete at a fourth Games,” the 34-year-old said Murray, who is 34 and has had hip surgery since Rio. “Leading Team GB out at the opening ceremony five years ago in Rio was one of the highlights of my career. Going to an Olympics as defending champion is exciting and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
The men’s team will be headed by the British No 1 Dan Evans in singles. He will join forces with Neal Skupski. Johanna Konta and Heather Watson will be Great Britain’s representatives in the women’s singles and they will compete together in doubles.
There have already been a number of Tokyo tennis withdrawals, including
Rafael Nadal, a two-time gold medallist, and Dominic Thiem. Some withdrawals have already generated criticism with the top Chilean player, Cristian Garín, denouncing “messages of hate” in a statement on Wednesday.
The British team will also be without some of its top players. Cameron Norrie, who will be seeded at Wimbledon for the first time, has decided not to compete in Tokyo, while Jamie Murray was unable to secure a place on the team. In a statement, Norrie cited the need to continue rising up the rankings. The Olympic tennis event does not award ranking points and with the US hard court swing scheduled to begin a week after, Norrie is one of many to prioritise the regular tour.
“While I wish I could compete in the Olympics and represent Great Britain, considering how the pandemic devastated the tennis calendar and created limited opportunities for players to move up the rankings, my team and I feel it is best for me to not partake in this year’s Olympics,” Norrie said. “It is important that I can continue to prepare and focus for the tournaments leading up to the US Open, the US Open itself and all subsequent events after as they are big opportunities to move up the ranks and keep momentum.”
Meanwhile, the US Open champion, Dominic Thiem, has pulled out of Wimbledon
because of a right wrist injury.
The Austrian, ranked fifth in the world, sustained the injury during a second-round match against Adrian
Mannarino at the ATP event in Majorca earlier this week and a scan revealed a detachment of the posterior sheath of the ulnar side.
Thiem, who had already decided against competing at the Olympics, will wear a wrist splint for five weeks and is now in a race against time to be fit for the defence of his first grand slam title in New York at the end of August.