Andy Murray out of Queen’s due to abdominal strain, still hopeful for Wimbledon

He was at par with Matteo Berrettini when the injury kicked in and the Italian became the winner. People speculated that he was facing a hip injury as opposed to what has been confirmed. However, his hopes are pinned on Wimbledon alongside a build-up exhibition at Hurlingham Club next week where he might compete. 

The former world number one quipped that his abdominal injury had deemed him unfit to compete at Queen’s this year. He underwent a scan in London during his return from Stuttgart. Although his injury is not grave, he chooses to rest this week to prepare himself for his home Grand Slam starting on June 27. If the 35-year-old will skips the ATP Tour event at Eastbourne next week he might play an exhibition match at Hurlingham to test his fitness. The three-time Grand Slam winner received on-court treatment twice during the final of the Boss Open where he went down in three sets to Italian Matteo Berrettini.

What actually went down during the match

He couldn't move freely and needed to call on the physiotherapist before losing 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. He felt pain in my abdomen when he was serving, as stated by Murray, who has experienced long injury lay-offs over several years due to hip surgeries. He revealed that it is not something he has experienced before. The last time he played as consistently was back in 2016 and the British player has never played as many matches in two weeks since that time. So it could be normal for his body to have slight difficulty adjusting to the pressure. He didn't play the French Open to prepare for grass and walked into the semi-final of the Surbiton Challenger.

Murray has previously won the title at Queen’s Club five times and clinched the doubles title in 2019 with Feliciano Lopez. Both Murray and Emma Raducanu struggled with injuries in the preparatory matches for Wimbledon. Murray's last Tour title arrived in 2019 in Antwerp and 2022, a year he had hoped would be free of injury, has not been a smooth run so far. He had won a title on grass at Wimbledon in 2016 and will be hoping to recover from the injury before the grasscourt Grand Slam begins.