Double thunder in Tokyo: on the second day of the Olympics, the Olympic tennis singles tournament has already lost two of its headliners with the withdrawal of the double Olympic champion in men, Andy Murray, and the precode elimination of World No.1 Ashleigh Barty.
Sacred in 2012 in London and in 2016 in Rio, Murray preferred, for medical reasons, to privilege the double.
« I am very disappointed to have to give up, but the medical staff advised me against participating in two tournaments, so I made the difficult decision to withdraw from the singles draw and focus on the doubles with Joe. Salisbury, Murray said in a statement from the British Olympic Committee.
Murray, 104th in the ATP standings, was to play his first round in singles this Sunday at the beginning of the afternoon against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (15th).
On Saturday, he crossed the first round of the doubles tournament by beating with Joe Salisbury in straight sets (6-3, 6-2) the French Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert who were among the favorites for the title.
At 34, Murray, former world No. 1, has been collecting injuries for several years and is still trying to regain his best level after a major hip operation in January 2018.
He participates in Tokyo in his fourth Olympic Games after Beijing, London and Rio.
If he won his last twelve singles matches at the Olympics, with victories in the final against Switzerland’s Roger Federer in 2012 and the Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro in 2016, the Scotsman has never gone beyond the second round in doubles. gentlemen, where he had so far aligned with his older brother Jamie. He has 46 ATP titles to his list, including three Grand Slams (US Open 2012, Wimbledon 2013 and 2016), and two Olympic gold medals.
Too many mistakes for Barty
The other surprise of the day came straight from the courts, where in her first match, the Australian Ashleigh Barty, one of the favorites for the title, was released in straight sets (6-4, 6-3) by the 48th in the world. , the Spanish Sara Sorribes.
The recent Wimbledon winner was surprised by Sorribes’ solid play, committing too many faults (27) to be able to win.
After the loss of the first set in 49 minutes, the Australian gave up her serve at the start of the second set. Recovering soon after to pick up the score, Barty then again conceded his faceoff at 4-3, before cracking once again on his serve, yielding on the second match point.
In the next round, Sorribes will face France’s Fiona Ferro (64th), who knocked out Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova (53rd) in three innings.
