Murray on Queen’s Club retirement: ‘I hadn’t experienced that before’

Former World No. 1 reflects on mid-match retirement

Andy Murray waves to the fans after being forced to retire on Wednesday at Queen’s Club.

Andy Murray waves to the fans after being forced to retire on Wednesday at Queen’s Club.

Andy Murray retired from his second-round match at the cinch Championships against Jordan Thompson after five games due to struggles with his back. Afterwards, the Scot revealed how concerning the injury is.

“Obviously it wasn’t great. I have been struggling with my back for a while,” Murray said. “I had loss of power in my right leg. So loss of motor control, had no coordination. Yeah, couldn’t move.”

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Dealing with the back was not new to Murray. The 37-year-old explained it was sore in the run-up to the Queen’s Club ATP 500.

“It was pretty sore in my match yesterday. Yeah, it was sore through today. But I was able to manage it. I wasn’t comfortable playing, but I was able to manage it,” Murray said. “During my pre-match warmup, I was pretty uncomfortable, and then I walked up the stairs just before going on the court, I didn’t have the usual, just normal strength in my right leg. It was not a usual feeling.

“I don’t know how many of you were watching, but the first two balls I hit in the warmup, my right leg, it was so uncoordinated. I had no coordination. Right leg just was not working properly.”

According to Murray, he has dealt with back problems for about the past 10 years. However, he had never experienced the loss of coordination, control and strength in his leg like he did Wednesday. In hindsight, he wishes he did not go on court for the match.

“I don’t know exactly what the problem is. I just know that this is not something — I hadn’t experienced that before,” Murray said. “[I have been] dealing with the back pain today, yesterday, and for the last 10, 11 years of my career, but I have never experienced that before. So I don’t know what the procedure will be or what to expect, really.”

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It has been a tough year on the injury front for Murray, who hurt his ankle in Miami and missed two months because of it.

“Although the last few years might have seemed okay, it’s been hard, it’s been really hard on the body. Physically it’s been tough. A lot of days where it’s not been that much fun to train and practise and everything,” Murray said. “But, yeah, obviously I have tried to work through it and find ways to get on the court and compete at this level. But tennis is a really, really hard sport.”