Dubai officials the last to know about Murray withdrawal

DUBAI - Dubai Championship officials got the bad news of Andy Murray’s withdrawal from next week’s hardcourt event in the worst possible way as the Scot announced his injury pullout on his website Wednesday.

While it is customary under ATP protocols for players to first inform tournaments, who then release the news, Murray dispensed with the niceties as he claimed a wrist injury.

“Andy would like to apologise to both the tournament and its fans,” read a statement on his website. The pullout comes a week after Murray lost in the Rotterdam first round, likely a direct result of his heartbreak over losing a second straight Australian Open final.

Murray, ranked fifth and loser of the last two Melbourne finals in straight sets, is starting to fall into the rut which plagued his 2010 tennis and did not start to end until a Wimbledon semi-final mid-year.

A year ago, Murray also got up the noses of the Dubai event as he lost as a headliner in the second round, then blamed the defeat on his use of “experimental tactics.”

That exit meant that Murray was unable to fully partake of the seven-star Burg al-Arab hotel suite offered to him as a leading seed.

His presence in the field was sorely missed after Roger Federer was forced to withdraw due to a virus, with the title eventually going to Djokovic.