ROME (AP) Fatigue from consecutive clay-court titles prompted Andy Murray to withdraw from the Italian Open on Thursday before his third-round match against Belgian opponent David Goffin.
''I'm tired. My body is tired,'' Murray said. ''It's completely normal and I think acceptable to feel like that after the last few weeks.''
In the past two weeks, Murray won his first clay title at the Munich Open, and then beat Rafael Nadal in Sunday's Madrid Open final for his first Masters trophy on the surface. The Munich final was delayed one day and played on a Monday, giving him less time to recover for Madrid.
Now Murray wants to recover in time for the French Open, which starts in 10 days.
''I didn't expect to do what I've done the last few weeks. My body has never been through that before on the clay,'' Murray said. ''I also don't want to risk making it worse, which in the past when I've maybe trained too much or done too much on this surface I've had those issues.''
Murray had contemplated withdrawing earlier in the week but he improved his record on clay this year to 10-0 with a 6-4, 6-3 win over 38th-ranked Jeremy Chardy on Wednesday in his opening match at the Foro Italico.
''I felt OK yesterday and felt like I played a pretty good match,'' he said. ''But then this morning I was pretty exhausted when I got up. And then we practiced, I did my 40-minute warmup and I felt extremely flat. ... It just didn't make sense for me.''
Murray is undefeated since he married his long-time girlfriend Kim Sears at Dunblane Castle in Scotland last month.
''It's been a very, very long three weeks for me,'' he said.