Andy Murray remains undecided on his participation in the French Open this month after his first-round loss to Fabio Fognini in the Italian Open on Wednesday.
Shortly after the three-set defeat, Murray suggested there were various options open to him, including fully embracing the clay-court season by competing at another ATP Challenger event in Bordeaux next week, or entering an ATP tournament in the week before the French Open.
“I don’t know,” Murray told the Guardian. “I’ll need to chat to my team about that and see what I do from here. There’s the possibility of playing the tournament next week in France. Whether I’d consider playing the week before the French Open or not, I really don’t know. I’ll need to have a chat with the team and see what the best thing to do is.”
In Madrid last week, Murray had mentioned there were various views within his camp about whether or not he should compete at the French Open. He personally wanted to play in Paris since he is unsure of whether he will have another opportunity to do so.
While Murray has skipped competing at Roland Garros in recent years due to concerns about over-extending his body over the best of five sets, he says the issue now is purely about making the best decision. “It’s not so much about [physical worries],” said Murray. “I trust that my body will be OK after what I did at the beginning of the year. I played back-to-back five-hour matches and did well physically in those matches. There’s no reason why that should necessarily be any different here.
“It was just more to see where my game is at. It’s just what the right thing is to prioritise at this stage in my career. I trust my body now but I’m aware that my best chance of having a deep run is more likely to happen at Wimbledon.”
The past few months have not progressed as Murray had hoped after a positive start to the year. He reached the third round of the Australian Open after defeating No 13 seed Matteo Berrettini in five sets from match-point down. He followed that by reaching the Doha final with a series of comeback wins, including overcoming the then world No 16 Alexander Zverev in straight sets.
Murray left Doha feeling that he was moving as well as he had since his hip-resurfacing surgery in 2018 and his body was strong, giving him hope of continuing to regularly challenge top-20 players and make deep runs at big events. While he performed well to defeat the world No 17 Tommy Paul and win the Aix-en-Provence Challenger, Murray’s form and confidence has collapsed at bigger tournaments. He has lost his last five matches at ATP Masters 1000 events.
On Wednesday, the cold night conditions on Rome’s notoriously heavy clay court certainly not did not help, and there is no doubt that Murray’s favourite surface, grass, will offer him an opportunity to turn his form around. He now must ensure he gives himself the strongest chance of doing so.