Andy Murray, the famous British tennis player, will be out for a considerable amount of time following a catastrophic ankle injury he sustained during his Miami Open third-round loss. At the Miami Open, the 36-year-old Murray fell to Tomáš Macháč of the Czech Republic 5-7 7-5 7-6(7-5) in the third round on Sunday. He disclosed the next day that, at the course of the game, he had sustained a near full thickness rupture of his calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) and a complete rupture of his anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL). “When I get back home, I’ll see an ankle specialist to figure out what to do next,” the former world number one stated on Instagram.
“Obviously, this is a difficult one to accept, but when the time is right, I’ll return with one hip and no ankle ligaments.” Murray, the two-time Mami Open singles champion, overcame a 5-5 deficit in the third set against Macháč and then seemed to roll his left ankle after winning a point. After the point, he was clearly in pain, and a physiotherapist on the court helped him right away. Murray would continue playing, forcing a tie-break and saving a match point before falling short in nearly three and a half hours.
The three-time grand slam champion considered the idea that this match might have been his final one at the competition after the contest. “I would have preferred it to have lasted a little bit longer because I have spent so much of my tennis career here,” he remarked. “It was a little more emotional leaving the court today than it might have been at some of the other events, because this tournament is particularly important to me.” Murray has struggled with severe and ongoing problems in the past few years, requiring two hip surgeries in 2019.
He actually hasn’t been able to continuously compete at the top level for a time, and he currently plays with a metal hip. Following his loss to Tomás Martín Etcheverry of Argentina in the Australian Open’s first round in January of this year, Murray acknowledged that this might be his last season competing. “I discussed it with my team. I’ve discussed it several times with my relatives. “It’s not as though I haven’t been thinking about it,” he remarked at the time.