Murray pulls out of Dubai tournament

Andy Murray has withdrawn from next week’s Dubai Championships citing a wrist injury.

The world No 5 had hinted he would take a break after reaching the final of the Australian Open last month but instead chose to play in Rotterdam only a week later.

However, Murray was well below his best and won only five games in losing his first-round clash to Marcos Baghdatis. His decision means the 23-year-old is not due to play again until the Masters Series event in Indian Wells in the middle of next month.

A statement on his website read: “Andy has withdrawn from the forthcoming ATP World Tour 500 event in Dubai due to a wrist injury. Andy would like to apologise to both the tournament and its fans.”

The Dubai tournament is popular with the world’s top players, despite being among the second tier of ATP events, and was Murray’s first outing after his run to the final in Melbourne last year.

However, he lost in the second round to Serb Janko Tipsarevic and was criticised after revealing he was under-prepared for the tournament.