Andy Murray crashes out of the French Open in the first round, losing comprehensively in straight sets to fellow veteran Stan Wawrinka on the clay at Roland Garros
Andy Murray exited the French Open in the first round after being overpowered by fellow veteran Stan Wawrinka.
Murray, who was playing at Roland Garros after recovering ahead of schedule from damaged ankle ligaments, was beaten comprehensively 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 by Wawrinka. He played in his trademark battling style but it wasn’t close to being enough against the Swiss, whose stylish one-handed backhand bludgeoned winner after winner.
The 37-year-old Scot was playing at the Grand Slam for the first time since 2020 and ended up being handed the same fate as four years ago – and in the semi-finals in 2016 and 2017 – as Wawrinka triumphed. Wawrinka is two years older at 39, but was near faultless, powering his way into the second round as Murray’s switch of racquets proved fruitless.
Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open champion, told Eurosport: “My first words were respect for a great champion. I have loved watching him [Andy Murray] play, loved fighting against him. We’ve had a lot of fights over the last 15 years. We are not very young so we did all we could and remember all these moments. I love to work in front of a crowd like this. I’ve shared a lot of emotion with this crowd and they gave me a lot of energy to fight. In my head I’m still a young guy, still a kid.”
Murray has hinted that this summer could be his last, with Wimbledon and the Olympic Games potentially providing a swansong for the three-time Grand Slam champion, but he rowed back on that idea in the build-up in Paris.
Speaking ahead of the match, Murray said: “When the time is right, I will stop. I don’t know if I will play past the summer. The results I have been having are not what I would want. But the mentality around whether it’s with my racquets and rehab or whatever, it’s always to try to get better.
“Is there anything that you can do that might help and influence some results or not? I have to wait to see whether it’s a good decision for me or not. It’s something that I wanted to see whether it could make a difference.
“I know they are different things but you wouldn’t get a golfer using the same clubs that they came out with 25 years ago. A Formula One car is not going to be the same today as it was 25 years ago. For some reason, tennis is a sport where players are always reluctant to change.
“I felt like now is the time to see whether it can make a difference. I felt like it was something I wanted to try. I don’t want to finish my career thinking: ‘Should I have given it a go to see whether or not that was something that could have potentially helped me’. I have really enjoyed it as well. That’s probably helped me a bit the last few weeks as well.”
Murray still has plenty of time to prepare for Wimbledon, which begins on July 1, while the Olympics start in Paris on July 26.