French Open 2020: Andy Murray suffers first round exit against Wawrinka

Andy Murray has only made it as far as the first round in the 2020 French Open. While it seems like a massively disappointing exit, there is no shame in losing to a player like Stan Wawrinka. Murray ended up facing the Swiss star in the first round due to the fact that he has entered the event with a wild card after slowly returning to competitive tennis after a hip resurfacing surgery in early 2019.

Murray's return to the clay courts was not as he would have wanted, with Wawrinka dominating the match, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. Both men are three-time Grand Slam champions, and it was a real treat for tennis fans to see them unexpectedly facing each other so early in the event. Their last meeting was in the semi-finals of the same event back in 2017, and the scenario was very different back then. Even though Wawrinka also emerged victorious in 2017, Murray was able to fight all the way to a gruelling fifth set.

Wawrinka himself has not been free from injury troubles. His knee had been bothering him in recent years but his injury had not been as career-threatening as Murray's. Wawrinka is the 16th seed in this year's French Open, which is why he ended up in a reunion with Murray.

The Scot was delighted to have been given the wild card for the French Open, but it was unfortunate that he faced a reality check so early. He admits that he will be taking it as a learning experience. "I should be analysing that hard and trying to understand why the performance was like that," Murray said, as quoted by the BBC.

"I need to have a long, hard think about it. It's not for me the sort of match I would just brush aside and not give any thought to," he concluded.

Wawrinka will be facing Dominik Koepfer in the second round.