'Sensible decision' - Andy Murray supports Roger Federer after the Swiss Champion pulls out of French Open

Roger Federer, on Sunday, took a tough decision of pulling out of the ongoing Grand Slam French Open midway. He was due to face the ninth seed Matteo Berrettini in the fourth round of the competition but the legendary Tennis player felt he needs to listen to his body.

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Federer was making a comeback from a long injury layoff after 17-18 months and was involved in a couple of gruelling matches in the second and third round. Both the games went to four sets while Dominik Koepfer, in the third round, taking every set right down to the wire. 

"After discussions with my team, I’ve decided I will need to pull out of Roland Garros today. After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation, it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery. I am thrilled to have gotten three matches under my belt. There is no greater feeling than being back on court," Federer said in a statement.

There were mixed reactions to this decision from the 20-time Grand Slam winner. However, former world number one Andy Murray has come out in support of Federer. He reckoned that the Switzerland Tennis player took a wise and sensible decision.

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Murray also cited examples of other sports like Basketball and Football where the player's workload can be gauged on his return from injury by giving him less playing time. But the same is not possible in Tennis.

"In Basketball, football etc when returning from injury players are given reduced minutes to build up their fitness. In tennis you don’t have that luxury of just playing a set in first match then 2 sets the next etc and building up that way.

"Id argue that it’s quite risky to play multiple 4hr matches in a row in your 2nd tournaments back in 18 months so to me it makes sense to be reactive based on how your body feels, length of matches etc. Sensible decision from him," Murray wrote in his tweets.

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Id argue that it’s quite risky to play multiple 4hr matches in a row in your 2nd tournaments back in 18 months so to me it makes sense to be reactive based on how your body feels, length of matches etc. Sensible decision from him

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) June 6, 2021