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It’s no great secret that Andy Murray isn’t exactly one of the youngest guys on tour. In fact, I would say he’s certainly representing the older guys at 36 years of age. This alone is quite magnificent given that he’s still competing with and beating guys that are more than a decade younger than him. However, given the injuries and surgeries that Murray has been through over the years, it’s also no surprise that his body isn’t what it used to be.
This has been particularly evident over the last couple of weeks. And I say this because Murray was forced to withdraw from the Canadian Open last week. This was prior to Andy Murray taking the court against Jannik Sinner, who ultimately won the tournament. As for the Western and Southern Open, Murray was due to play Karen Khachanov in his opener. Yet after testing his body out and consulting with his team, he felt it best not to compete at the 2023 Cincinnati Open.
This was obviously a huge shame for Andy Murray and his fans. And as a result of his Cincinnati Open withdrawal, fans are now curious as to whether he will be fit in time for the 2023 US Open. Of course, it’s perfectly normal to have these thoughts given that Murray has now withdrawn from back-to-back events. So on that note, I wanted to quickly recap the situation while looking ahead to Murray’s chances of competing in the fourth Grand Slam of the year.
The details of Murray’s Cincinnati Open withdrawal
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As mentioned above, Andy Murray was ready for a first-round battle against Karen Khachanov at the Cincinnati Open. Murray was a direct entry into the event, and he clearly intended to be ready to compete. I say this because otherwise, he would have been added to the list of Cincinnati Open withdrawals before the draw was made. So clearly, Murray was trying hard to be ready to play, but it just wasn’t meant to be. And if you haven’t seen the details of his withdrawal and related injury, I’d better start with this information before looking ahead to the US Open.
Therefore, let me direct your attention to the details shared below.
Murray’s withdrawal – abdominal strain
I have some good and bad news regarding Andy Murray’s Cincinnati withdrawal this week. So, let’s get the bad news out of the way before looking at this in a more positive light. The bad news is that Murray seemingly picked up an abdominal strain while competing at the Canadian Open. Specifically, this strain seemed to be bothering him in his lengthy match against Max Purcell – a match that he won in a tight three-setter. But why is this bad news?
Well, it’s bad news because, in tennis, pretty much every single shot requires the use of the abdominal region. In addition, abdominal injuries often require complete rest if they are to heal fully. As for how long this rest period might need to be, nobody knows at this moment in time. However, it’s not all bad. In fact, there is some good news to take from this. Specifically, the good news regarding Andy Murray’s withdrawal is that he hasn’t needed to pull out of the event due to something very serious.
Of course, when you are 36 years of age, if a player picks up a serious injury, he could well be sidelined for months. Sadly, we’ve seen this time in time again with some of the greats of the game. But for this latest injury, it doesn’t seem likely that Murray will be absent from the tour for a prolonged period, which brings me to the main question.
Will Murray be playing in the US Open 2023?
At the time of writing, there are no indications that Murray has any plans to withdraw from the 2023 US Open. In fact, given that the US Open is not set to begin for another couple of weeks, Murray will potentially get a whole three weeks to get himself fit and ready. Naturally, he will no doubt be using this time to practice and get himself in better shape to perform well in the final slam of the season.
But if the abdominal injury is causing him significant problems, there is a chance that his training block could well be impacted when building up for New York. However, there have been no reports from Murray or his team as of yet which indicate that Murray’s US Open bid will be affected in any major way. So to conclude, I definitely expect to see Murray competing at Flushing Meadows in a few weeks’ time.
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