Andy Murray has pulled out of the season-opening Delray Beach Open in Florida next week to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 ahead of the Australian Open in February.

Murray, who missed most of the 2020 season due to complications with his hip and struggled for form on his return after the COVID-19 hiatus, accepted a wildcard for the Jan.7-13 ATP 250 tournament last week.

Advertisement The tournament serves as a warm-up for the Australian Open in Melbourne, which will begin three weeks later than scheduled on Feb. 8 due to COVID-19 health and safety measures.

“After much deliberation with my team I’ve decided not to travel to play in Delray Beach,” Murray, 33, said on Thursday.

“Given the increase in COVID rates and the transatlantic flights involved, I want to minimise the risks ahead of the Australian Open.”

Murray, a former world number one and three-times Grand Slam champion, underwent hip resurfacing surgery in January last year and has slipped to 122nd in the rankings after playing only seven matches this year.

Meanwhile, Slovakian tennis player Dagmara Baskova was banned for 12 years on Thursday for match-fixing offenses, the Tennis Integrity Unit said.

Baskova admitted to charges of five incidents of match fixing in 2017, the TIU said. She was also fined $40,000 with all but $1,000 suspended and payable within 90 days.

Baskova had a career-high WTA ranking of 1,117 in singles and 777 in doubles.

She has since retired from the sport, the TIU said.

Elsewhere, American Sam Querrey was given six months probation and a suspended $20,000 fine on Wednesday by the ATP Tour for violating Covid-19 safety protocols at the 2020 St. Petersburg Open.

The tour said it had completed an investigation into world number 53 Querrey’s actions last October, when he departed Russia on a private plane rather than remaining in quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19.

The ATP “concluded Querrey’s conduct to be contrary to the integrity of the game under the Player Major Offense provision in the ATP Code of Conduct.”

That prompted the tour to issue the fine to Querrey but he can avoid paying the punishment by avoiding more violations during his probation period.

“Taking into consideration Querrey’s many years of otherwise good standing with the ATP and other mitigating factors, the fine is suspended and will be lifted subject to Querrey committing no further breaches of health and safety protocols related to COVID-19 within a probationary six-month period,” the tour said.

Querrey, 33, has five days to appeal the ruling. He departed St. Petersburg with his wife Abby and nine-month-old son Ford after being removed from the event after an October 11 positive test four days after he had tested negative.

Querrey had been told to isolate in his hotel room while plans were being made to move him into a private apartment, but tounament officials said he would not open the door to his hotel room, then fled in the early morning hours of October 13, hotel security cameras capturing his escape.

Querrey told ATP representatives he had flown out of Russia on a private jet and they in turn informed the tournament.

Having won the most recent of his 10 ATP titles at the 2017 Los Cabos Open, Querrey made first-round exits at this year’s US and French Opens in his major appearances after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.