"No one is deserving" - Andy Murray fires back after Madrid Open wild card saga

Thursday, 21 April 2022 at 19:45

Updated at Friday, 08 November 2024 at 17:54

byErik Virostko

Andy Murray will play at this year's Madrid Open after the British player received a wild card entry into the event, which created some controversy.

The British player was not supposed to play on clay this year. A few months ago, he announced that he would skip it to focus on the grass swing and preserve his body.

However, a few days ago, he made a surprising U-turn when it was announced that he received a wild card into the Madrid Open. The full list of wild card entries was recently announced, and it didn't feature many Spaniards.

Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco posted a statement on Twitter criticizing the decision, explaining how it's not good for Spanish tennis to give wild cards at a home ATP Masters 1000 event to players of other nationalities.

Fellow Spaniard Paula Badosa echoed his thoughts. Murray did not comment on that specifically, but he was tagged by a fan asking how he felt about taking away wild cards from a native player, to which he fired back.

"More than happy to play qualifying. Will most likely play qualies in Rome. If a tournament invites me to come and play in the main draw are you suggesting I should turn it down and play quailes?"

"We agree that nobody is deserving of a wild card. We just disagree on the wild cards being used specifically for young local talent. Lots of people hold that view I just don’t think that’s fair on all the players out there who don’t come from countries that host tour-level events. Yes, British players benefit a lot from wild cards. As do Spanish players. And I don’t believe that is fair."

On top of that, the former World No. 1 highlighted many other situations, which wouldn't make sense based on the assumption his colleague from the ATP Tour and some fans made.

"Any tournament can give their wild cards to whoever they want. But just because I’m British shouldn’t make me more ‘deserving’ of a wild card than anyone else for Wimbledon. Holger Rune is less deserving than a local Spanish player? Amazing how quickly people forget in tennis."