Andy Murray faces an anxious wait over his participation in the rest of the grass-court season after picking up an injury at the Stuttgart Open.
Murray pushed Matteo Berrettini to three sets in Sunday’s final but suffered an abdominal injury, which required medical treatment, and meant he could not serve at full speed for most of the final set.
The former world No1 was scheduled for a scan on the injury in London on Monday afternoon, with his ability to play at both Queen’s and latterly Wimbledon hanging in the balance.
Officials at Queen’s were this morning waiting on word whether Murray can take his place in tomorrow’s main draw, although he looks unlikely to participate on the evidence of yesterday.
But the hope is the scan will show he only suffered a strain rather than any sort of tear, which would thereby pave the way for him being able to play at Wimbledon when it gets under way in two weeks’ time.
The timing of the injury could hardly be worse, Murray playing arguably his best tennis since undergoing hip surgery as he beat Alexander Bublik, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios on his way to the final.
This morning, his team remained unsure of the extent of the issue which was still leaving him in discomfort. Speaking after the match, Murray said he was unsure what that meant for the rest of his grass-court campaign in 2022.
“Hopefully it’s alright,” he said. “Obviously, I’ve played a lot of matches. This is the most matches I’ve played in two weeks since probably 2016. That’s a really long time.
“It’s probably normal that I would feel some stuff in my body but I don’t really know the severity of it. I won’t know anything until I get it checked out. It’s tough to say anything about the next weeks.”
Murray has played a total of nine matches in the past two weeks – five in Germany as he tried to win his first grass-court title since a second Wimbledon crown in 2016 and four the preceding week in Surbiton.
He also climbed back into the world’s top 50 for the first time since undergoing surgery three-and-a-half years ago to 47th place.
Murray appeared to pick up the injury when serving for the first time in the deciding set, after which he had a medical timeout. He had further physio treatment for the issue, which clearly troubled him for the remainder of the match.
“I got some pain in my ab when I was serving,” he said. “Not something I’ve had before. Sorry I couldn’t get over the line today but there’s been a lot of progress the last few weeks. I’m looking forward to what the future has to hold.
“I’m feeling a lot better about my game. Hopefully, my body can hold up a little while longer so I can keep playing matches like this.”
If fit, Murray is expected to reunite with Ivan Lendl this week, the former world No1 arriving in London to work with the Briton between now and Wimbledon.
