Andy Murray reveals brutal jibe at Roger Federer and how a butt injury forced him to miss an event

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Andy Murray and Roger Federer on the court

Andy Murray returned to Basel this week for his first Swiss Indoors tournament in more than a decade and immediately after his arrival he decided to taunt Roger Federer.

Basel of course is the home town of the great Federer, who retired from professional tennis in September.

Murray, who last played in the event in 2005, decided to poke fun at the 20-time Grand Slam winner as he sent a brutal text to Federer after touching down in the Swiss city.

In an interview with watson.ch, the former world No 1 was asked what he knows about Switzerland and replied: “One of my best friends, Dani Vallverdu, who coaches Stan Wawrinka, got married in Gstaad. I was there. A beautiful place.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know the country that well. But of course I know that Granit Xhaka is from here, I’m a fervent Arsenal fan. Granit is the vice-captain and having a very good season. He scored another wonderful goal on Sunday.

“As soon as I arrived in Basel, I wrote Roger Federer a message with the following content: ‘Hey Roger, I just landed in the city of one of the greatest athletes of all time: Granit Xhaka.'”

Murray was part of the Team Europe squad that played in Federer’s farewell event at the Laver Cup in London last month.

“It was an incredible, once in a lifetime experience for me to be around these guys for a week, in this stadium and with so many former players,” the Scot said.

“Roger’s farewell was like in a fairy tale, not only that evening but also the days before. I’m happy I could be a part of it and spend so much time with Roger.”

The 35-year-old also revealed that he was also due to play at the Swiss Indoors back in 2011, but he picked up a “weird injury”.

“I couldn’t play because the day before the tournament I sustained a rather weird injury: a pulled muscle in my butt – and that was at night,” he said.

“When I woke up in the hotel room in the morning, I was in pain. To this day I don’t know how that was possible.”

READ MORE: Andy Murray proving an inspiration for Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s late World Cup push

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