MDP Live - After sacrificing a lot to make an impressive comeback at the ATP tournament, Andy Murray has prepared what he needs to last as long as possible.
The former world number 1 has confirmed that he plans to skip 2022 clay-court tournaments, including the French Open, in order to give himself the best chance to do well this season.
Ahead of competing in the Rotterdam Open, the Briton cited previous experience as a reason to skip the clay-court tournament this season.
"In the season I lost to Felix Auger Aliassime at the 2020 US Open, I never really recovered from that match and the clay-court tournament made it worse," admits Murray.
"Then last season I had some problems at the start of the season, around the Miami Open and again, the clay-court tournaments didn't help me. I've had discussions with my team about it and this season, even though I'm feeling good and fit, I really don't want to take the risk.”
The tennis player who has won three Grand Slam titles still wants to compete on clay again, but he especially wants to get the best preparation for the grass-court season.
"It's not that I won't be able to play on clay again in the future. It's just that last season I really barely got to play on grass-court season and I'm so grateful I started feeling better right before Wimbledon. I will keep trying to compete during that period. I'm still going to do something, but that's my plan at the moment," said Murray.
"It gave me a chance to rest, recover, work on my fitness and not take any risks."
Meanwhile, a familiar opponent will help the Briton to his best at the Rotterdam Open when he faces a challenging first-round tie against 2022 Open Sud de France champion Alexander Bublik.
The Rotterdam Open will be Murray's fourth tournament of the 2022 season after he started in the Melbourne Summer Set. He was immediately eliminated from the first round against Facundo Bagnis. But he was lucky at the Sydney International having made it through to the final before losing to Aslan Karatsev. At the Australian Open, he was unable to maintain the momentum and only made it to the second round after losing to Taro Daniel.
