Andy Murray has pulled out of the Dubai Championships as a ‘precaution’ after reaching the final of the Qatar Open last week. The former British No 1 came close to winning his first ATP title since 2019 at the weekend, but couldn’t get past a dominant Daniil Medvedev.
Murray was included in the Dubai Tennis Championships draw, which gets underway today. He had been drawn against Hubert Hurkacz with the potential of facing old foe Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
But Murray has decided against playing in the United Arab Emirates event in order to try and recover in time for the Sunshine double. Indian Wells gets underway next week with the Miami Masters played two weeks later.
With both being Masters 1000 events, plenty of ranking points are up for grabs having been knocked out in the second round of the two American tournaments last year. After reaching the final at the Qatar Open, Murray stormed up the rankings to climb above Jack Draper to reach 52nd in the world.
He’s now the British No 3 in the men’s singles game and will be looking to push up even higher to help his cause at Grand Slams. It’s been nearly five years since Murray has gone into a major tournament as one of the top 32 seeds.
Injuries have curtailed Murray’s career, but he looked in top form in Doha last week. The Brit once again rolled back the years with two incredible comebacks from the jaws of defeat.
