Andy Murray receives Australian Open wild-card entry

Image Source : GETTY IMAGES Five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray Five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray has been given a wild-card entry into the primary Grand Slam match of subsequent yr. Former top-ranked Murray has slipped to No. 122 within the ATP rankings after a number of years of battling hip accidents and surgical procedure. “We welcome Andy back to Melbourne with open arms,” Australian Open match director Craig Tiley mentioned Monday. “As a five-time finalist he has been an integral part of so many amazing matches and storylines in the recent history of the Australian Open.” Murray made a teary retirement announcement in Melbourne two years in the past earlier than present process a second spherical of surgical procedures to increase his profession. “His retirement was an emotional moment and seeing him come back, having undergone major surgery and build himself back up to get onto the tour again, will be a highlight of AO 2021,” Tiley added. The rescheduled Australian Open might be performed from Feb. 8-21, three weeks later than the unique date in an effort to enable gamers and officers to spend 14 days in quarantine as soon as they arrive in Australia. The gamers might be allowed 5 hours of apply every day at Melbourne Park, however should keep confined to their resort rooms in any other case. Also receiving a wild card was Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, who can also be recovering from a collection of accidents and hasn’t performed a tour match because the 2019 U.S. Open. He missed the 2020 Australian Open attributable to glandular fever. Fellow Australians Destanee Aiava and Arina Rodionova gained wild playing cards into the 128-women’s draw. India’s Sumit Nagal and China’s Wang Xiyu have been awarded wild playing cards from the Asia-Pacific for the boys’s and ladies’s foremost draw, respectively.