Andy Murray pulls out of Australian Open, says he is ‘gutted’

Image Source : AP In this Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019 file picture Britain’s Andy Murray reacts throughout a press convention following his first spherical loss to Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut on the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia
Five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray withdrew from the yr’s first Grand Slam match, saying Friday he couldn’t determine a workable quarantine that will enable him to compete amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The announcement comes somewhat greater than every week after Murray, who has received three Grand Slam singles titles elsewhere, mentioned he examined constructive for COVID-19 shortly earlier than he was as a result of board a constitution flight to Melbourne.

“Gutted to share that I won’t be flying out to Australia to compete at the Australian Open. We’ve been in constant dialogue with Tennis Australia to try and find a solution which would allow some form of workable quarantine, but we couldn’t make it work,” Murray mentioned. “I want to thank everyone there for their efforts, I’m devastated not to be playing out in Australia. It’s a country and tournament that I love.”
He had been awarded a wild-card entry by Tennis Australia to permit him to compete at Melbourne Park, the place the hard-court main championship is scheduled to start Feb. 8, a three-week delay because of the pandemic.

Players and officers should spend 14 days in quarantine as soon as they arrive in Australia.
Murray is a former No. 1 who’s presently ranked 123rd as he works his manner again from hip points that led to 2 operations. The 33-year-old from Scotland has received two titles at Wimbledon and one on the U.S. Open, together with the final two Olympic males’s singles gold medals.
He was the runner-up on the Australian Open in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. In 2019, earlier than a first-round exit in Melbourne, Murray mentioned he was going to wish to retire from tennis due to his hip points that led to surgical procedure a yr earlier — however he wound up having a second process and returning to the tour final season.
Murray had withdrawn from the Delray Beach Open in Florida this month, saying he needed to “minimize the risks” of contracting the virus by worldwide journey forward of the Australian Open.
Under match protocols agreed to with the federal government authorities in Australia, all gamers needed to take a look at unfavorable take a look at earlier than boarding a constitution. They then needed to have extra testing after they arrived and through a 14-day quarantine.