Murray rates Cincinnati singles comeback ‘OK’ despite defeat
Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray said he “did OK” in his first singles match in seven months – a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Richard Gasquet at the Cincinnati Masters on Monday.
“I don’t really know what I was expecting, to be honest,” said Murray, sidelined since January by a career-threatening hip injury, AFP reported. “I did OK. “There were a lot of things I would like to have done better in the match, but you also have to be somewhat realistic in terms of what you can expect, in terms of how you actually play and hit the ball.”
Murray said he “felt fine, physically,” during the match.
“My legs were a little bit heavy at the end of the match. When Richard drop-shotted me, there were a few times I didn’t even run to the ball, didn’t react to it.
“That’s nothing to do with my hip, that’s just me not running for a ball.”
Murray hadn’t played a singles match since a five-set first-round exit at the Australian Open, where he tearfully acknowledged he feared his career was over.
Since undergoing right hip resurfacing surgery on January 28 he has slowly fashioned a return.
Murray has been playing doubles for the past two months, winning at Queen’s Club in London with Feliciano Lopez.
Gasquet, however, was too strong for the 32-year-old, who won the title in the US Open warmup in Cincinnati in 2008 and 2011.
Gasquet, who had groin surgery in January, ended a fivematch skid against the Briton, now ranked 324th.
Murray opened the game with a double fault, and his forehand into the net gave Gasquet a match point that the 56thranked Frenchman converted
No US Open singles
He was optimistic he can improve further.
“I think with a few more weeks of practice and hopefully some more matches, then I could do better,” said Murray, who nevertheless said after the match that he did not intend to play singles at the US Open.
“I’m not going to play the US Open singles,” he confirmed, adding that US Open organizers had wanted to know by Monday if he was interested in a wild card invitation.
“I felt like I wanted to maybe try and get a couple of matches in before making a decision like that,” added Murray, who knows the best-of-five set format at Grand Slams will be even more of a challenge.
The return of former world number one Murray dominated an opening day that saw another former US Open champion, Marin Cilic, join Murray on the sidelines with a 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) loss to Radu Albot. Barcelona sent a delegation including technical manager Eric Abidal to France for talks with Paris Saint-germain over a deal for Neymar.
As reported by RAC1 and confirmed to goal. com by sources close to the talks, Abidal, along with board member Javier Bordas, and Andre Cury, a specialist in the Brazilian market, flew to Paris to begin negotiations.
Barca was planning to initiate talks with the Ligue 1 champion and will make an opening offer in the region of €100 million (£93 million/$104 million), plus Philippe Coutinho.
The Catalans need to offload the Brazilian from their wage bill and had been actively offering him to the Premier League prior to the transfer window closing in England.
PSG, meanwhile, is determined to receive as much money as possible for a player it signed for €222 million (£200 million/$249 million) back in 2017, while it also wants right-back Nelson Semedo included in any potential deal.
Sources told goal.com that the French side would consider an offer that includes both Coutinho, Semedo and a cash payment of around €50 million (£47 million/$57 million).
PSG would, however, prefer to sell the Brazilian to Real Madrid, which is planning a €100-millionplus offer of its own, with the relationship between the Parisians and Barca strained after Neymar’s initial decision to leave Spain.
Speculation has been rife that the former Santos star has been searching for a way out of Paris, with his relationship with the club and its supporters appearing to be at an alltime low.
The forward, who didn’t feature for the club over preseason, was absent from the Trophee des Champions win over Rennes, while he was also missing from the Ligue 1 opening-weekend victory over Nimes.
Indeed, PSG supporters made their feelings clear as they sang songs and held up banners in protest against the Brazilian’s presence in Paris.
There were banners calling for the 27-year-old to “Get out” of the club.
The Ligue 1 side’s sporting director Leonardo confirmed on August 10 that there had been talks over Neymar’s exit and that they were “more advanced” than previously but that no deal had been agreed.
It remains to be seen if a transfer can be finalized before the transfer window closes in Spain on September 2 but it’s certain to be an intriguing battle as Barca and Madrid go head-to-head.