Andy Murray hits back at ‘drama queen’ jibe

Published on 23/06/2012 23:24

TENNIS star Andy Murray has hit back at accusations of being a “drama queen” over his injuries as he prepares to mount his challenge for the Wimbledon title this week.

Former champion Virginia Wade used the phrase in an attack on the Scot after he struggled through his second round match at the French Open last month. He suffered back spasms and had to be treated on court, before winning the match in four sets.

But Murray, 25, told Scotland on Sunday the treatment he had undergone for the injury included eight injections with eight-inch needles.

“I think eight painkilling injections in your back before the French Open justifies a genuine injury,” he said.

“Physically, I’m absolutely perfect [now]. I’m just saying that if someone is going to say to me that my back injury is not genuine, they can come see my reports from the doctors, they can see the pictures of a needle about eight inches long in my back.

“I’m not accepting it any more because it’s not fair.”

John McEnroe joined in Wade’s attack on the Scot, claiming the back injury was more a reflection of his frame of mind than the physical state of his back.

But Murray said: “I’ve got a genuine injury, a genuine back problem, it’s not a mental thing.

“Often when things do start to get better, for a little while you can be over-sensitive in that area and think ‘oh, is that maybe right? Is that not right?’ or whatever, but with my back problem, it’s certainly nothing that’s mental. It is something that’s there.”

Murray decided to have pain-killing injections in order to get through Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open at the end of the summer.

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