By Tony Fairbairn
- Andy Murray had to withdraw from his third round match with Jannik Sinner due to an abdominal injury
TORONTO, CANADA – Andy Murray’s hopes of being seeded for the US Open are in serious doubt after the Brit withdraw from his match with Jannik Sinner in Toronto.
 |
|---|
Andy Murray’s US Open preparations took a massive setback on Thursday evening as he withdrew from his third round match with Jannik Sinner at the last minute. Murray was looking to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final since 2016 against the in-form Italian. However the Brit was forced to withdraw from the contest due to an abdominal injury, a similar one to an injury he suffered in Stuttgart last year.
Brutal matches against Lorenzo Sonego and Max Purcell had clearly taken its toll on Murray with the world number 40 unable to compete in Toronto. When addressing the Toronto crowd, Murray spoke about his injury and described the injury as ‘rubbish.’
“I have an issue with my abdominal so unfortunately I’m not going to be able to play this evening. I’m really sorry,” Murray was quoted by the ATP website as saying.
“I feel like I’ve let you down. I’ve rarely been in this situation in my career and I feel terrible. I don’t know, this might be my last time playing here as well. So to finish like this feels rubbish.”
Despite the withdrawal, Murray’s run to the third round sees him climb up four places to 36 in the world as he faces a race against time to be fit for Cincinnati next week. Speaking about the timeframe of the injury, Murray said it was a similar one to the injury in Stuttgart but admitted this one isn’t as bad.
“I had a very similar issue last year in Stuttgart before Wimbledon, Which forced me to miss the Queen’s Club tournament,” Murray was quoted by the ATP website as saying.
“I was able to play Wimbledon. It took me about 10-12 days before I was feeling good again. This is not as bad as that but obviously the danger if you compete and play is you could make it worse. I’ll need to see how it develops over the coming days and hopefully feel better in a few days.”
 |
|---|
Doubts increase over US Open seeding
The significance of Murray’s Toronto withdrawal could be a big one as Murray is now four ranking places away from a US Open seeding when Monday’s rankings come out. However now that Murray’s hopes of playing Cincinnati have been severely hindered as the Brit’s chances of avoiding a tough draw in New York have worsened.
A seeding would mean that Murray would avoid playing any of the top players until the third round while being unseeded could mean that Murray may play the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic or Daniil Medvedev in the opening two rounds. Past draws when Murray hasn’t been seeded have been brutal for the Brit with Murray failing to reach the third round at times in particular at Wimbledon this year when he lost in five sets to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.
Murray will hope he can be fit for Cincinnati which starts on Monday but if he isn’t then he is likely to have a tough draw when he competes at the US Open which starts on the 28 August.
How to Watch/Follow ATP Toronto 2023
| Live Stream | Amazon Prime Video <– Sign up for trial |
 Sign up to PBLC for free to support ongoing contributions from Britwatch Sports |
|---|
| Follow Britwatch - Sport in General, Brits in Particular! | |
|---|---|
| Soundcloud | |
| YouTube | |
| We may receive compensation for products purchased via affiliate links on this website | |