Andy Murray has withdrawn from the third-round clash against Novak Djokovic at the 2022 Madrid Open, due to an illness, sending his opponent into the quarter-final.
Djokovic and Murray were set to play each other for the first time since 2017, and both players were very excited about it. However, it won't come to that as the British player was forced to withdraw from the ATP Masters 1000 event just an hour before the match due to an illness.
It comes at a weird time for the Brit, as he initially didn't want to play during the clay-court part of the 2022 season. However, he has taken a wild card into the 2022 Madrid Open and changed his plans.
Initially, the decision seemed to be a very good one, as the three-time Grand Slam champion defeated fellow major winner Dominic Thiem in the first round of the tournament, 6-3, 6-4.
After that, Murray played against the 14th-seeded Denis Shapovalov, who defeated France's Ugo Humbert 7-6(1), 6-3 in the first round. The Canadian presented a real challenge for the Brit, but he handled it perfectly.
Murray won the match in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, and set up a third-round clash with his old rival, Djokovic, who bested Gael Monfils in the second round of the tournament, 6-3, 6-2.
Yet, the match won't be played as Murray is struggling with an illness. That means that their match, which was supposed to open the play on the centre court will be replaced by a match between the sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev and Daniel Evans.
While Murray will focus on recovery, Djokovic will now look ahead, with a possible quarter-final match against the 12th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz, who is always a difficult opponent thanks to his strong and precise serve.
If the Serbian passes the test, he can meet either Rafael Nadal or Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals of the ATP 1000 tournament in Spain's capital.