Andy Murray’s decision to skip the rest of the season, leaving the window only slightly ajar for a highly unlikely return to competition before the 2018 campaign, has received wide approval across tennis.
The former British No1 Greg Rusedski, who took six weeks out with a damaged shoulder towards the end of his career, was among those who welcomed Murray’s decision to let his painful hip injury heal slowly.
“The more time you take out the better you recover,” he said on Wednesday. “[Doctors] said if you have surgery there’s a 5% chance it’ll get better, 45% chance it could stay the same and 45% chance it could get worse. He’s doing the right thing taking the rest of the season off.”
Murray said in a statement: “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to compete in the upcoming events in Beijing and Shanghai, and most likely the final two events to finish the season in Vienna and Paris due to my hip injury which has been bothering me the last few months.”
Murray, who has not played since his defeat against Sam Querrey at Wimbledon, intends to fulfil an obligation to appear at a charity event in Glasgow on 7 November but will almost certainly delay his full‑time return to the Tour until January in Australia.
In the meantime he and his wife, Kim, are expecting their second child in October. Tennis, for once, will not be at the top of his agenda for the next few months, as he continues his rest and rehabilitation, rather than opting for surgery.
“I will be beginning my 2018 season in Brisbane in preparation for the Australian Open and I’m looking forward to playing in Glasgow later this year against Roger [Federer] for Unicef UK and Sunny-sid3up. I have a fantastic team working alongside me to help me through this process and appreciate the support from them and all of my fans over this difficult period.”
Miles Maclagan, who once coached Murray and now shares commentating duties with Rusedski on Eurosport, said Murray should ignore the inevitable slip in rankings that will follow, and follow the example of Federer, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka. “There’s all sorts of wear and tear on tennis players’ bodies, especially the hips and backs because of all the stopping and starting. But also the training they have to put in to get to the level of fitness that they compete at takes a huge toll. Also, knowing what Federer did, he probably thought: ‘I’m going to get myself in the best shape I can for next year.’” That would seem to be Murray’s obvious intention.
