Andy Murray withdraws from Antwerp to ‘pace himself’ for end of season schedule

Andy Murray has pulled out of the ATP 250 European Open in Antwerp, Belgium in order to rest up before later events. 

The former world number one claimed his only title post-hip surgery at the event in 2019. After returning to the event in 2021, he would have faced Jaume Munar in the first round this year. Instead he will target the Swiss Indoors Basel and the Paris Masters to close out his 2022.

According to i newspaper: “Andy will pace himself between now and end of season, but the plan is still Basel and Paris.”

Basel gets underway on 24th October, while Paris follows immediately after with the main draw kicking off on 31st October. Andy Murray won the Paris Masters in 2016, a campaign during which he became number one for the first time.

Now 35, the Brit played more than seven hours across three matches at last week’s Gijon Open. No doubt the physical toll of the ATP 250 tournament factored into his decision to forgo Antwerp.

Looking forward, Murray remains adamant on his target of a seeded position at the Majors. Currently ranked 46th in the world, the top 32 players are seeded at Slams. The last time Murray was in that position was when he was world number one and top seed at Wimbledon 2017.

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