Andy Murray is yet to decide on his participation in the French Open after his roller-coaster clay season continued on Wednesday with a first round defeat at the Italian Open.
The three-time Grand Slam champion crashed out of the tournament 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, to home favourite Fabio Fognini. Overall, Murray produced 27 winners which was 20 less than his opponent and he was broken five times in the match. It is the third consecutive ATP Masters event where Murray has suffered a first round defeat after Monte Carlo and Madrid. However, he won his first title since 2019 on the lower-level Challenger circuit last week in France.
“It was a pretty patchy match,” the former world No.1 said after losing to Fognini. “There was some good stuff in there but also some pretty average stuff. He played very well in the third set. My level was OK in the third, but he played really well in the third.”
Murray’s latest defeat comes after he has climbed up the rankings to 42nd place this week which is his highest position since undergoing hip resurfacing surgery. His ranking is a sharp contrast to Fognini who is currently ranked 130th in the world and has only won three matches so far this season.
It is unclear as to what the 35-year-old plans to do next following his exit from Rome with the French Open set to begin later this month. Murray has only played at the Grand Slam once over the past five years which was in 2019. Last season he opted to miss the tournament in order to maximize his preparation for the grass swing. His best performance at Roland Garros was reaching the final in 2016 when he was beaten by Novak Djokovic.
“I’d still like to play but we did agree that we’d talk and make a decision as a team after Rome,” he said.
“That is what I wanted, to see how my game felt, how I was playing and physically how I was doing in some of the longer matches before making a definitive call on it. We’ll have those discussions in the next few days.”
Muerray’s season win-loss record now stands at 8-8 with his best performance being a run to the final in Doha. Coincidentally this year was the first time he had played in Rome since 2017 when he was also knocked out of the draw by Fognini but in the second round.
