(Tennis news) After Andy Murray knocked out of the Italian Open’s first round by Fabio Fognini on Wednesday in a match that lasted almost three hours, the Scot is now a doubt to participate in the French Open. The 35 year old has failed to win a match at any of the three clay-court Masters 1000 events last month but managed to win his first title since 2019 on Sunday, winning a second tier tournament in Aix-en-Provence.

Murray will turn 36 this week and has played at the Roland Garros once since 2017. If he does participate at the French Open, it could be the last time he is involved in the tournament but missing out will mean he can begin his preparations early for the grass-court season. 

In an interview, he said “I’d still like to play but we agreed that we’d talk and make a decision as a team after Rome. 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.”

Murray lost to Fognini 6-4 4-6 6-4 at the Italian Open and the pair have been rivals since their junior days. The Scotsman said “It was a pretty patchy match. 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.” The match also had its share of controversy as Murray got into a row with umpire Mohamed Lahyani over a line call late in the first set.

Responding on Instagram about the incident, Murray hit out at the Rome fans by saying “Stadium full of Italians booing and whistling, thinking I’m trying to cheat Fabio out of point of view because Mo couldn’t read a mark properly. Cheers mate.” 

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