The second day of the Miami Open began with the withdrawal of former No. 1 Andy Murray. By the end of the day, another fan favorite — 40-year-old Venus Williams — was headed home after a hard-fought match that went to a 12-10 tiebreaker.
Williams, in her 21st appearance at the event, has slipped to No. 79 in the world rankings but remains a crowd-pleaser. Tuesday was no exception. The fans at a reduced capacity Grandstand Court cheered on the Palm Beach Gardens resident as she rallied to tie the second set at 6-all after dropping the first set to 89th-ranked Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.
Wearing turquoise buns in her hair, Williams, a three-time Miami Open champion, showed flashes of her younger self during the second-set tiebreaker. She kept the match alive with a backhand winner to reach 10-10, but then double faulted, and Diyas held on to win 6-2, 7-6 (12-10).
And so, the tournament will go on without either Williams sister. Eight-time champion Serena pulled out after undergoing oral surgery last week. The men’s draw, already minus Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, lost Murray due to “a freak” injury.
Murray told the Herald he was “gutted” to have to withdraw from the tournament Tuesday morning after suffering a groin injury during his third day in town. He is coming back from hip surgery and had been given a wild card into the event.
He arrived in Miami last Wednesday, trained at the Crandon Park Tennis Center twice on Thursday and Friday and was eager to play this week. Sometime Friday night, while sleeping, he developed pain in his groin and while it had subsided some by Tuesday, he said he was not able to play.
“I had no issues while training, felt fine, did some gym work Friday, no problem, and then I woke up about 3 in the morning, felt pain in the groin, not on the side I had my surgery, and when I got out of bed I struggled quite a bit to walk,” Murray said. “I have no idea what I did. It’s one of those freak things. Each day it has gotten progressively better, but it’s not enough. I have not practiced since Friday.”
The three-time Grand Slam champion had hip surgery two years ago. He skipped the tournament in Dubai two weeks ago because his wife gave birth to their fourth child last week.
Murray, who had a Brickell condo and spent many winters in Miami, last competed in the Miami Open in 2016. He won the tournament in 2009 and 2013 and reached the final in 2012 and 2015.
“I am really gutted,” he said. “This is a place I have done so much training over the years. It’s like my second home. Last time I played here was 2016 and so much has happened. In 2017 I had an elbow issues, last few years various issues with my hip. Last year, the day before I was supposed to travel here COVID stopped the tennis tour. Miami’s been a place that has given me a lot, but this just wasn’t meant to be.”
Meanwhile, defending women’s champion Ash Barty traveled “exactly 45 hours door to door” from Australia to Miami after a few flight cancellations.
“Brisbane-Sydney, Sydney to L.A., L.A. on to Miami is usually quite an easy trip,” Barty said. “We had a flight cancellation leaving Australia, and another flight cancellation when we got to LA. It was quite a wriggle-around.”
Despite the travel complications, Barty said she is delighted to be back. It is her first time competing outside Australia since the start of the pandemic. She hopes to repeat the performance she had in 2019, when she lifted the trophy. Her first match will be later this week.
“Nice to be back competing, doing what we love,” Barty said. “Obviously a tournament where I have so many good memories. This week for me a couple years was one of the best of my career where I played consistent tennis throughout the whole week. Looking forward to challenging myself once again to try to bring that tennis.
The tournament, being held at Hard Rock Stadium, continues through April 4.
