Andy Murray responded to a tweet that called Roger Federer’s withdrawal "disrespectful" to other players for "using" the French Open to gain fitness.
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Roger Federer took the decision to pull out of French Open 2021 despite making it to Round of 16. Now, the former world No 1 Andy Murray called his decision “sensible” to protect his body after two knee surgeries in 2020. Federer, 39, withdrew after winning against Dominik Koepfer in a round that lasted over 3 and a half hours.
Andy Murray responded to a tweet that called Roger Federer’s withdrawal “disrespectful” to other players for “using” the French Open to gain fitness.
“In basketball, football etc when returning from injury players are given reduced minutes to build up their fitness. In tennis, you don’t have that luxury of just playing a set in first match then 2 sets the next etc and building up that way,” the British tennis star added. He himself has been recovering from a hip injury.
“I’d argue that it’s quite risky to play multiple 4hr matches in a row in your 2nd tournaments back in 18 months so to me it makes sense to be reactive based on how your body feels, length of matches, etc (sic),” Andy Murray added.
Roger Federer said he aimed to play in Wimbledon at the end of June and did not want to put his body through a lot of pressure after two surgeries.
“After discussions with my team, I’ve decided I will need to pull out of Roland-Garros today. After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery. I am thrilled to have gotten 3 matches under my belt. There is no greater feeling than being back on court,” said Roger Federer after his win against Koepfer on Sunday.
The Roland Garros was Federer’s only third tournament of 2021 while in 2020, he played only one in the Australian Open. Federer used the time to go for surgeries.
