Andy Murray returns to action at next week’s Masters 1000 event (Rogers Cup) in Montreal since becoming Wimbledon champion as struggling Roger Federer announced on Friday he is withdrawing from the event, while Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are also in the line-up.
“I am disappointed not to be playing in Montreal next week,” wrote the 17-time Grand Slam champion on his Facebook page.
“It is a great tournament with amazing fans. I look forward to competing there in the future.”
The Swiss fifth seed is on a poor run of form that has seen him lose in the early stages of Wimbledon, Hamburg and Gstaad in the past six weeks.
Federer revealed last week that his back has become a significant issue for him, saying: “My main priority now is to fix my back.
“I’ve had a serious problem with the back,” he said after his latest defeat. “I had to get some anti-inflammatories last week in Hamburg due to pain. I will have to do a lot of exercises and see how it all feels.”
Murray, who will begin on Tuesday or Wednesday as the top eight seeds have been drawn byes in the first round of Montreal, missed the French Open due to back problem but has not lost a match since returning at the Queen’s Club. The Scot will play Grigor Dimitrov or Marcel Granollers in the second round.
Having been drawn in the opposite half to top seed Djokovic and Nadal, Murray could face Juan-Martin del Potro, who he beat in the finals of the same event in 2009, in the last eight and could setup a potential semi-final against Spain’s David Ferrer this year.
