After putting Queen’s on its feet after playing its 1,000th game on the circuit yesterday, Andy Murray has had to say goodbye to one of its quintessential tournaments. The five-time Queen’s tournament champion withdrew injured from the London tournament with a back problem. He was only able to play five games in his round of 16 match against the Australian Jordan Thompson.
The Scot noticed the pain in his back from the first point of the matchwhen got stuck in the grass after his serve and could not react. Since then, his movement was very limited and he could barely endure exchanges, winning only his second serve in the match thanks to his strength and the support of the public, who from beginning to end showed their support for the most successful tennis player of the tournament.
After being treated for more than ten minutes by a physiotherapist on the trackMurray made an effort to continue the match, but after placing himself 5-1 with two breaks againstdecided to retire.
The Scotsman came from reappeared just a month ago at the ATP Geneva after a miraculous recovery from his ankle injury that he suffered in March at the Miami Masters 1000. After the match, Murray confirmed that he noticed the problem in his back even before starting the match, when he was going up the stairs and that it immobilized his right leg.
A farewell ovation
Andy Murray received a champion farewellwith a great ovation from his audience who perhaps saw his greatest winner for the last time, with five crowns in his record.
The setback calls into question what will happen to the Scotsman next month, since Murray has not set a definitive date for his retirementbut he assured that He does not plan to play beyond the summer and that a goodbye in Wimbledonwhere he won in 2013 and 2016, or in the Jolympic gameswhere he took two individual gold medals, would be “ideal.”
