Former British number one Andy Murray has announced that he will miss this year's French Open as he looks ahead to Wimbledon.
The three-time Grand Slam winner made the final of the 2016 tournament before losing to Novak Djokovic and has since been absent at three of the past four editions.
Having struggled with injuries for the past couple of years, Murray has now confirmed that he will sit out the entire clay season before returning to home comforts later in the summer.
Speaking to the press ahead of the Rotterdam Open, Murray said: "I am not planning on playing through the clay, the past couple of years, the clay has made issues worse, I don't want to take that risk.
"It's not that I wouldn't potentially play on clay in the future. Last year I almost missed Wimbledon and was close to not playing the grass season.
"I will still try to compete a bit during that period, I won't do nothing, that's my plan just now. I had a busy end of last year and the next couple of months. I won't take any risks and hopefully get a good build-up to the grass season."
Murray fell to Taro Daniel in the second round of the Australian Open earlier this year and is set to take on Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik in his opening Rotterdam Open encounter on Monday.
