From Murray’s travails to Robredo’s tears – it’s a love of tennis that keeps them going

The French Open lost another fine player from the men’s draw when Hyeon Chung withdrew on Wednesday – and it looks as if he will miss Wimbledon too.

“I have been struggling with an ankle injury the entire clay season,” the 22-year-old South Korean said, simultaneously pulling out of Roland Garros and this week’s Lyon tournament where he had hoped to test his fitness. He follows Milos Raonic out of the season’s second slam, which starts on Sunday, further depleting a field missing Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Rafael Nadal’s odds shorten by the day.

Chung, forced to quit his Australian Open semi-final against Federer because of blisters, says he might require “a small procedure” to fix a build-up of gathering fluid in the ankle joint, followed by “an extended period of rest”. It doesn’t sound as if he’ll be ready for Wimbledon, which starts on 2 July.

And will six weeks be enough for Andy Murray to make it to the line for his favourite tournament? The odds are lengthening despite the best efforts of Marcel Hunze, the Libema Open tournament director at Murray’s putative comeback event in the Netherlands, the week after the French Open. “After consulting his team, we don’t have any reason to doubt his participation,” Hunze told BBC Scotland.

Murray’s team tell the Guardian, meanwhile, that the 31-year-old will not play again “until 100 per cent fit” – which has been the standard reply to all inquiries ever since he limped out of Wimbledon nearly a year ago, and repeated often in response to fevered speculation in recent weeks. Given his stop-start rehab this summer, it is difficult to imagine Murray’s hip has yet fully recovered from surgery in January, and sources insist he is still struggling. But if anyone can defy the odds, it is the three-time grand slam champion.

Heather Watson broke a six-match losing stretch this week when she beat the world No 76 Kateryna Bondarenko (one place ahead of her in the rankings) in a drawn-out struggle, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (3) in the first round in Nuremburg. Watson then lost 6-3, 6-3 to the little-known Hungarian Fanny Stollar on Wednesday, however, though the Briton will be looking to build on what was a first main-draw tournament win for four months with the grass-court season looming.

Laura Robson, who once jousted with Watson for the No 1 spot in the British rankings, has slid to 221 in the world and, at 24, is battling away in doubles matches on the ITF circuit in front of small crowds for minuscule purses. Her stop-start journey back from a wrist injury has been one of the sport’s toughest to witness, but her love of the game clearly sustains her. As it does all of them.

One of the most uplifting sights of the weekend was the 36-year-old Tommy Robredo, a former top-10 player, crying his eyes out after winning a Challenger title in Lisbon, his first success in five years.

Bruno Soares, Jamie Murray’s doubles partner, was moved to comment on social media, “So when you say someone should stop or quit playing, think twice. Only we know how much we love this sport and how much we love competing. We stop when we want.”

Robredo is the only player in the Open era to come back from two sets down three times in a row, which he memorably did to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open in 2013. On Tuesday, he lost out on Court 18 at Roland Garros, in a qualifier.