World No1 Andy Murray has accepted a wildcard for next week’s Barcelona Open where he will be looking to regain his confidence following an early exit in Monte Carlo.
Playing his first tournament back from a right elbow injury that forced him to miss Miami and the Davis Cup quarter-finals, Murray bizarrely squandered a 4-0 lead in the deciding set to lose 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 to Spanish world No24 Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the Monte Carlo third round on Thursday.
The Brit, who is defending 3,160 points this clay stretch through Roland Garros, will join a strong Barcelona field (tournament starts Monday) that includes nine-time champion Rafael Nadal, Japan’s two-time champion Kei Nishiori and Austrian world No9 Dominic Thiem.
Murray, who spent a few years living and training in Barcelona as a young teenager, last participated in the Catalan tournament in 2012, where had his best result, reaching the quarter-finals.
The 29-year-old has had a tricky 2017 so far, where he has amassed a 13-4 win-loss record, with his only title coming in Dubai early last month.
He may have lost the match but this was SUPERB from Andy Murray 🇬🇧#MCROLEXMASTERS pic.twitter.com/NnLFXs5Ldm
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 20, 2017
He was not pleased with his surprise defeat to Ramos-Vinolas in Monte Carlo but can at least find some comfort in the fact that his elbow is in good shape.
“I’m disappointed to lose from the position that I was in. I mean, if you sort of look at the scoreline, it was 7-5 in the third. One week ago I would have been okay with that. But sitting here, being 4-Love up in the third, I haven’t lost many matches like that in my career,” Murray told reporters in Monte Carlo on Thursday.
“Obviously disappointed to lose. But yeah, I mean, maybe tomorrow or a day after I’ll be able to look back a little bit and think where I’m at now from where I was a week ago.
“My elbow felt pretty good. I served much better today than I did yesterday. That’s only going to get better. So hopefully I keep going in the right direction.”
The Barcelona Open starts Monday April 24 and concludes on April 30.
