Murray overpowered by injury; quits year-end finals

Nov 22, 2011, 17:56 GMT

London - British home hero Andy Murray was Tuesday forced to retire from the ATP World Tour Finals due to the recent groin muscle strain which has brought a sad end to his standout season.

The number three announced that he could not go on due to the problem which he has carried for a week; his place in the eight-man year-end field was taken by Serb substitute Janko Tipsarevic, who will face Tomas Berdych in Group A round robin on Wednesday.

'It's disappointing to finish the year that way, maybe having lost or not qualified for the semis or the final or whatever,' said 2010 semi-finalist Murray, winner of three titles in three weeks a month ago in Asia.

'But not being able to play is what's most frustrating. You work the whole year to be part of this group of players.'

Murray had lost his opening match on Monday against Spaniard David Ferrer in pain and had given himself a day to consider his next move.

He said that after waking up with aching and trying unsuccessfully to test his strain on the practise court, he had no choice to throw in the towel.

Murray suffered the problem last Monday during a London training session. Doctors had told him he should take a week to ten days of total rest - time that he did not have as the elite year-end event began at the weekend.

Murray said he knew it would be useless to try and carry on further, 'I never want to pull out of tournaments, especially one of this size. But it's a decision I kind of had to make because I was probably going to do myself more damage

'I was told to take a week to 10 days completely off - I couldn't do that. Each day I was sort of hitting up and down the middle of the court, not moving.

'It doesn't feel great. But more so because it's the end of the year.'

He added that he spoke for some hours with his team, debating the pros and cons of trying to play on.

He will now be out of the mix with the title to be decided on Sunday.

'There was no real positive sort of coming out and playing because yesterday I was really unhappy on the court, I wasn't enjoying it at all.

'This is one of the best tournaments in the year, one that I think me and all of the players look forward to playing.

'I couldn't give anywhere near my best. So that's what was disappointing.'

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