Andy Murray has pulled out of this week's Cincinnati Open due to injury. It's the same abdominal injury that forced him to withdraw from the Canadian Open last week. Murray's hoping to be fit for the US Open - which begins in just under a fortnight.
Andy Murray has caused some concern among fans ahead of the US Open after injury forced him to withdraw from the Western & Southern Cincinnati Open in Ohio this week.
Former world No. 1 Murray was set to face eleventh seed Karan Khachanov in his opening round at the ATP Masters 1000 event, but has been forced to miss the tournament due to an abdominal injury suffered at the Canadian Open last week.
This comes just days after he pulled out of the National Bank Open in Toronto, where the 36-year-old had been having a good run, defeating Lorenzo Sonego and Max Purcell on his way to an exciting third-round clash with seventh seed and eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
Unfortunately, it was not to be, as Murray withdrew ahead of the match. Moments before he was set to face Sinner on the court, the Briton announced his withdrawal to the crowd.
Later, he revealed that his injury is similar to the one he suffered at the Stuttgart Open earlier this year, which took him 10-12 days to recover from.
Luckily, this means he should be fit in time for the US Open in less than two weeks, but it takes away a chance to gain some significant rankings points ahead of the Slam. Indeed, if Murray had been able to compete in Cincinnati and had a deep run, he could have re-entered the top 32.
Another injury is worrying for Murray fans, as he stated earlier this year that if he was injured seriously again, it could end his career. This came after the three-time Grand Slam champion almost left the sport a few years ago due to a major hip injury.
However, this injury seems relatively minor in comparison to his past experiences, and it seems like he is still looking to compete at Flushing Meadows when the major begins on August 28.
He has also recently told The Guardian that he is still optimistic about his future in the sport:
"I do think that I’m playing a better level than that and that’s the thing that’s positive for me, and the thing that keeps me going," he said.
"Providing that I keep learning and improving and working on the right things, my ranking will keep going up and I’ll win more matches against the best players."
Andy Murray has pulled out of this week's Cincinnati Open due to injury. It's the same abdominal injury that forced him to withdraw from the Canadian Open last week. Murray's hoping to be fit for the US Open - which begins in just under a fortnight.