Andy Murray has admitted he is in a race against time to be fit for Wimbledon after ruling himself out of the French Open.
The British number one confirmed what most people had suspected yesterday by calling time on his bid to be ready for Roland Garros.
A wrist injury sustained mid-stroke at the Hamburg Masters last week saw to that, and the British number one has now raised the possibility of missing both Queen's and Wimbledon next month.
''I saw the doctor yesterday and, as I expected, I'm going to have to withdraw from the French Open,'' he said.
''But good news is I got the cast off and I'll start physio treatment tomorrow and take it day by day to see how it feels and reacts.
''I'm not going to make any decisions on the grass yet. I'm going to see the doctor in a week to see how it feels and how much the inflammation has settled.''
British tennis fans will no doubt be waiting with bated breath for the results of that examination, as a Murray-less Wimbledon would mean a second year in succession without a home-grown seed at the All England Club.
But even if he does eventually take his place in the draw, the 20-year-old will have little time to prepare for a tournament he would have been considered an outsider to win even if fully fit.
Murray's confession yesterday brought to an end confusion over his chances of playing in Paris, after coach Brad Gilbert last week appeared to rule him out.
Gilbert said of Murray at the time: ''He's pulled the plug on the clay-court season and we're hoping he'll be back and ready to compete at Queen's in a few weeks.''
The American's claim was disputed by Murray at the weekend, when he insisted no firm decision had yet been made.
He had said: ''I will make a decision on the French Open and grass season once I have a better idea of what the injury is and how long it is going to take to heal, which I will hopefully have a better idea of on Monday.''
No further news was forthcoming yesterday but Murray has now accepted the inevitable.
To compound the Scot's woe, he has also dropped out of the world's top ten as a result of his withdrawal in Hamburg.
He has slipped a place to 11th, with Germany's Tommy Haas, the man he leapfrogged in April, reclaiming 10th spot.
Tim Henman, meanwhile, has warned Murray not to take any risks with his fitness.
Henman, 32, said: ''It's obviously some tendon damage. The wrist is such an important area in the game and there's a lot of strain on that area.
''The most important thing is that when he comes back on the court he's 100 per cent.
''There's no point in rushing. He's only just had his 20th birthday so he's going to have hopefully a long career ahead of him. He doesn't want to jeopardise that.
''I think it's unlikely that he'll be in Paris and we'll just wait and see what's going to happen for the grass.''
Henman was a semi-finalist at the French in 2004, but he has lost both his matches on clay this year but was keen to put the two losses into context.
He said: ''Over the course of my career my game has improved on clay as much as any other surface.
"In the last few tournaments I've played some really tough players and come up just a little bit short. I don't think there's anything drastically wrong with my game.''
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