Murray to skip French Open and target Wimbledon

MATT HARDY

THREE-TIME Grand Slam winner Andy Murray will not compete at this year’s French Open in order to target the Wimbledon Championships.

Despite winning on clay this month in the Challenger event at Aix-enProvence, Murray will not take to the courts of Roland Garros next week.

The Briton joins the likes of Rafael Nadal, Matteo Berrettini and Marin Cilic in missing the calendar’s second Grand Slam.

Murray has featured just once at the Parisian event since 2017 with the 36year-old having gone through a number of lengthy injury episodes.

The Scot is currently 42nd in the world despite dropping as low as 500th in 2019 and is set to turn his sights on to his home major, which begins in early July. Murray has won at the All England Club on three occasions –twice in Grand Slam tennis and once in the London 2012 Olympics. He has converted three of his nine Grand Slam final appearances into trophies.

Only 32 men will be seeded at Wimbledon so Murray has some work to do before then if he is going to try and get himself an easier draw at SW19 –though some players will not play due to injury. Absence from the French Open allows the Brit access to Challenger events that would otherwise be taking place during the fortnight of Roland Garros.