November 01, (THEWILL) – Jenson Brooksby has pulled out of the Paris Masters first-round encounter against the resurgent Andy Murray with an injury.
This means Murray will have to deal with a last-minute alteration for his debut match at the Masters. The Scotsman was given a difficult draw for the first round against the American, who has been one of the ATP Tour’s breakout stars this year.
Brooksby advanced to the main draw after defeating Peter Gojowczyk and Roberto Carballes Baena in qualification. It also set up a first-round battle between him and Murray in an entertaining match.
The 21-year-old, though, has dropped out of the competition with an injury just hours before their encounter was scheduled to take place.
Murray returns to the Paris Masters for the first time since winning it in 2016. Murray won three Masters 1000 events in that year, as well as Olympic gold in Rio and his third Grand Slam triumph at Wimbledon.
After defeating Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals in London, he finished the season as the world No. 1 at the end of the year.
Since then, Murray has struggled with hip issues, requiring two major surgeries to correct the problem but it threatened to drive him into early retirement at one point.
However, he has made a strong comeback on tour this summer, having competed in a number of events to improve his match fitness.
Murray believes he is not far away from having a deep run in the 2021 Paris Masters, which will be his eighth tournament since reaching the final of the US Open.
The Brit had to dig deep to improve as he was dissatisfied with his game play. He had earlier said: “I’m not going to keep losing in the second and third round of tournaments. I will get better and I will improve and I will break through in one week or three weeks or a few months.
“If I continue on that path and build up a little bit more consistency, be that little bit more clinical and be a bit more ruthless I will start winning more and have some deep runs but it’s tough. Draws have been hard, I’ve played in some tough tournaments.
“There are no easy matches. But it will happen sooner rather than later I think.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
