Andy Murray misses Davis Cup and says he doesn’t deserve to be picked | Britain’s Andy Murray

[ad_1]

Andy Murray has no intention of playing in the Davis Cup next month after his defeat at Indian Wells and says he doesn’t deserve to be picked anyway.

The former world number one withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open in California after losing straight sets to world number four Alexander Zverev. The defeat ends two months of solid work for the 34-year-old in both Europe and the United States and he is unwilling to risk injury by playing in the team competition.

Two years ago, Murray halted his comeback from a hip replacement by bruising his pelvis at the 2019 Davis Cup, which severely affected his 2020 activity. Murray wants to make sure he gets enough rest and time with family at the end of next month before He will leave for Australia earlier than usual for the Grand Slam next January.

“I’ve given so much to the Davis Cup, sometimes at the expense of myself physically,” he told BBC Sport. “The same thing happened the last time I played the Davis Cup at the end of 2019. I know there was coronavirus, but I was already struggling with it until around September of the following year.

“I also don’t feel right now that I’m going to play either. It’s obviously up to Lyon [Smith, the GB captain]But I’m not sure I deserve to play on this team. cam [Norrie] and dan [Evans] I’ve had a great year, Liam Brody in and around the top 100 now and we also have a very strong husband.

“At the moment, I am not planning to play the Davis Cup and with the late completion of it, and early departure from Australia, with my schedule between now and the end of the year, I will have to rest and take a break and give my body a chance to breathe.

“And I want to make sure that in the off-season I get to spend as much time as possible with my family because I’ve been away from that lately and that will be the case when I go to Australia as well.”

Murray expects unvaccinated players to compete in the Australian Open, but says he will support moves by local authorities to impose tougher conditions on them at Melbourne Park than those who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Victoria’s Sports Minister Martin Bakula said players planning to compete in this year’s first Grand Slam should be vaccinated to give themselves the best chance of competing in Melbourne.

However, vaccinated players are expected to be given more freedom of movement and may also be able to bypass the country’s mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival.

“My understanding is that if you are not vaccinated, you can still play, just the rules will be different,” Murray said. “You might just have to leave [for Australia] A few weeks before anyone else. This is the player’s choice. If the local government puts that in place I will support that. It would be great if more players were vaccinated.

“Australia in particular has been very strict there. The public there has had to put up with a painful 18 months or something. If people are going to come into the country and potentially risk outbreaks in their communities, that is understandable.”

Murray has shown signs that he will be able to compete on the ATP Tour over recent weeks with some encouraging victories, but this was a missed opportunity to claim a real scalper against Zverev. The Scotsman says fitness is not an issue, but so is his form.

Andy Murray in action during his defeat to German Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells. Photo: Ray Acevedo/EPA

“It is very difficult to do a high-level professional sport with a metal hip. There is a lot of what I think is some sort of compensation going on around that area, like the pelvis and lumbar spine,” he said. “I imagine my body takes a while to get used to it. On top of that I’m not that young either. I’ve played a lot of years on the tour as well, so there’s some wear and tear on other parts of my body as well.

“This is the best I’ve felt physically for a while. I’m kind of fighting my game a little bit, the consistency just isn’t there. I don’t know, the decision-making is not good in the important moments that still are. The moments I’ve always been – I think for the most part – so strong in them, I wasn’t this year. So I’m disappointed with that.”

Zverev praised Murray’s performance in his on-court interview after the match. “It’s the only one of the big four that I haven’t beaten yet, so I’m glad I did today,” he said. “I’ve always stayed in the match, even though I’ve had a break in both sets. I always knew I had a chance. In particular, I think the second set was a very high level from both of us. It could have gone both ways. .

“It was a great match. I thought Andy played very well, maybe as he has since (hip) surgery. I hope he continues to play in the same way because tennis has missed him for a long time and I think it is good to get him back.”

[ad_2]