Weekly Tennis Round-Up

Season ending surgery might be just what the doctor ordered for Andy Murray

By Mason Walling

Photo: Rueters

Last week, Murray’s management released a statement saying that the Wimbledon champ has decided to undergo back surgery that will end his 2013 season.  Realistically, there may actually be no better time for Murray to heal his ailing back, and here’s why.

Murray has had this injury looming over him for quite some time now.  Back in June, it was causing him severe enough pain to have to withdraw from the French Open.  He mustered up the strength to win Wimbledon in July (for this, his country is forever grateful) before being bounced in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open this month by Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in straight sets.

There are 13 men’s singles events left on this season’s schedule.  The most notable are two October tournaments held in Shanghai and Paris, followed by the ATP World Tour Finals in November in London.  All three are events that Murray typically plays; however, they aren’t anyone’s highest priority.  

Murray currently sits at number three in the ATP world rankings.  Even if he wasn’t having surgery, it’s not likely that he would be able to pass Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic this late in the year.  Just behind Murray at number four is David Ferrer of Spain, and in the five slot, Roger Federer.  Ferrer has a good chance at leap frogging the injured Murray in the rankings, but Federer would have to have a phenomenal fall season to overtake him.

What I’m getting at is, if Murray goes ahead with the operation now, he’ll be rested and healed by January for the 2014 Australian Open.  As long as he finishes the year at number three or four, he will avoid having to meet either Djokovic or Nadal (his biggest challenges) until the semifinals of the Aussie Open.

In other news, Frenchman Gilles Simon defeated his countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Sunday at the all-French Open de Moselle final in Metz, France.  Tsonga won the tournament the previous two years running, and he has dominated Simon head-to-head for the last three years.  Simon won the Metz final in 2010, but since then has been overshadowed on the French tennis scene by both Tsonga and Richard Gasquet.

Finally, on a much lighter note, current world number one Novak Djokovic announced that he will be tying the knot with his longtime girlfriend, Jelena Ristic.