Andy Murray pulls out of Rotterdam Open after Australian Open exertions

ATP Tour

James Richardson
January 30, 2023

Great Britain’s Andy Murray has withdrawn from the Rotterdam Open due to his Herculean efforts at the Australian Open.

His three marathon bouts at Melbourne Park required the former world No 1 to spend more than 14 hours on the court.

Murray was slated to take a brief rest before making a comeback at the Rotterdam Open on an indoor hard court, which gets underway on February 13.

However he will now head home for a longer spell of rest and recuperation.

Murray is now expected to make his return to the ATP Tour at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships which get underway on the penultimate day of February.

The withdrawal of Murray opens the door for home hope and world No 59 Tallon Griekspoor to be added to the draw at the Dutch hard court event.

Tournament director Richard Krajicek said: “We consider it a blessing in disguise.

“On the one hand, it is a pity that Andy Murray will not be present. On the other hand, I am glad that we can admit Tallon to the main draw. He is the man in form and I think he can show great things in the ABN AMRO Open.”

Former Wimbledon champion Krajicek can look forward to overseeing a star-studded tournament nonetheless with Australian Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas set to make his return to action in the Gateway to Europe.

Murray was gutted to end his Australian Open run in the third round with so many factors beyond his control contributing to his exit.

He said: “How do I feel right now? Yeah, I mean, lots of mixed emotions. I mean, I feel like I gave everything that I had to this event. So I’m proud of that.

“That is really, in whatever you’re doing, all you can do. You can’t always control the outcome. You can’t control how well you’re going to play or the result. You can control the effort that you put into it, and I gave everything that I had the last three matches. I’m very proud of that.

“But, yeah, I’m also disappointed because I put loads of work into the beginning of this year and was playing well enough to have a really good run, have a deep run.

“I think even tonight I’m competing against a guy 20 in the world, you know, and it’s still very tight considering the circumstances. I feel like, yeah, I’m disappointed because I feel like I could have gone quite a bit further.”

Andy Murray