ANDY MURRAY HAS withdrawn from the Australian Open due to a hip injury.
The Briton, a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, was in doubt for the year’s first Grand Slam tournament after pulling out of the Brisbane International.
It was confirmed this morning that Murray would miss the Australian Open, which starts on 15 January. The 30-year-old three-time major champion is returning home, and may yet need surgery on his hip.
“Sadly I won’t be playing in Melbourne this year, as I am not yet ready to compete,” the world number 16 said in a statement.
“I’ll be flying home shortly to assess all the options but I appreciate all the messages of support and I hope to be back playing soon.”
Murray last played competitively at Wimbledon in July before the hip injury ended his season.
His wait for a first Australian Open title will continue after runner-up finishes in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016.
Murray’s withdrawal adds to that of Kei Nishikori, while Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are also under injury clouds.
What has gone wrong with Athletes in Ireland. It must be our worst ever Olympics. The Irish records for field events like the shot put dates back to the 1980′s. Yes we can’t get thousands of women out jogging and mini marathons. There is no one moving into the sport. The men are no better. We have one last hope Robert Hefferen in the 50 k walk. Best of luck to him.
The banks. It’s the bankseses’ fault.
And Enda Kenny.
Any person who makes it to the Olympics is as a result of huge dedication sacrifice hard work so we should be very very proud of each and everyone of them. Well done you all especially our own
It’s one of our best Olympics!
Not in athletics it wasn’t. They were an embarrassment.
Thankfully our boxers’ successes overshadowed our embarrassing results in athletics.
Track and field in Ireland is just a disaster. One flop after another these games, very few PBs or SBs from our athletes compared to other nations where there athletes are peaking at the right time.
the boxers win because they are hungry…some of the other athletes come from privileged backgrounds