ANDY MURRAY has insisted he had to pull out of the Italian Open to give himself the best chance possible of being back in shape for his assault on Roland Garros.

 

The world No.3 entered the Rome-based event in great form having won back-to-back ATP events on clay in Munich and Madrid and racked up a 10thstraight victory on the surface with a straight sets demolition of Frenchman Jeremy Chardy to move into the third round.

However, he withdrew just hours before his scheduled encounter with Belgian David Goffin this afternoon after feeling exhausted in the wake of a morning practice session and felt he had no option but to call it a day as he works towards the bigger goal of the French Open, which begins in Paris on May 24.

"It wasn't just about today's match," said Murray. "It was about the rest of the tournament and, further down the line, the possibility of getting sick and missing five, six or seven days.

"There are no long-term injuries to worry about. Things are a little bit stiff and sore because of the amount of matches I've played."

Murray had considered missing the Italian Open and entered the clay-court season having had little more than one week of practice in Barcelona. He is expected to return to London to recover and admits he will be going nowhere near a tennis racket for the next few days.

"I didn't expect to do what I've done the past two weeks," said Murray. "My body has never been through that before on clay. It is a surface that I've always struggled on physically..

"The time of the year is a tough one for everyone, but I wanted to play in this event. It's a big tournament and there are a lot of points on offer. That's why I wanted to give it a go.

"I was just flat. I'm tired. My body's tired.

"I'm going to take a few days to rest. I won't train, I won't go on court.

"I'll maybe see my physio over the weekend to help the recovery process, try to rest and sleep. I'll get to Paris early next week and get some good days' training there."

Murray took his decision to walk away from the Italian Open after a long chat with his team, led by Amelie Mauresmo.

"I was pretty exhausted when I got up and, then, I came in to practise, did my 40-minute warm-up and felt extremely flat," he said.

"We chatted for about half an hour. It didn't make sense for me. A lot of studies suggest that, when you're very tired or run down, you risk injury if you continue to compete.

"I just was listening to what my body was saying, because I've played so much tennis. It has been a very long three weeks for me, the longest I've ever had on clay in my career. It just seemed like the right thing to do."