Andy Murray books in comeback date as another former US Open champion announces retirement plans

Scot will play at a Challenger event in Bordeaux next week

Andy Murray will return from injury at next week’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Bordeaux.

The former world number one has been sidelined for seven weeks by the serious ankle ligament damage he suffered during a third-round loss to Tomas Machac at the Miami Open in March and it was announced on Wednesday that Murray had taken a wild card into the Geneva Open beginning on May 25. But, with the French Open only a fortnight away, the Scot has opted for more clay-court practice and will also play next week in the second-tier tournament in France.

Murray’s last match on clay also came in Bordeaux a year ago, when he was heavily beaten by Stan Wawrinka before deciding not to play at Roland Garros. This year he has his sights set on a final appearance in the year’s second grand slam, where he will also enter the doubles alongside Davis Cup team-mate Dan Evans. Murray is hoping to be back on the Parisian clay in the summer for a final tilt at another Olympic medal, with his best chance likely to be in doubles.

Andy Murray will be back in action next week on the red dirt.

Meanwhile, former US Open champion Dominic Thiem will retire at the end of the 2024 season. The 30-year-old Austrian said his decision had been influenced by a wrist injury that kept him off the ATP Tour for 10 months during 2021 and 2022.

“It is a very important, very sad, very beautiful message that this season will be my last one,” Thiem said on his Instagram page. “There are some reasons behind it: firstly, of course, my wrist. It is not exactly the way it should be and how I want it. The second reason is my inner feeling, I have been thinking about this decision for a very long time. I have been thinking very carefully about it, and the whole journey of being a tennis player, which is incredible.”

Thiem became the first man to come back from two sets down in a US Open final in the Open Era when overcoming Alexander Zverev in 2020. But less than a year after his New York triumph, he suffered the injury that sidelined him and saw his ranking plummet to outside the top 350. The Austrian returned to the top 100 last year but in March he said he had a minor recurrence of the wrist injury. He hopes to finish his career at a home event in Vienna in October.