MURRAY’S WIMBLEDON RETURN IN JEOPARDY
As fears grow he could miss Wimbledon...
ANdy MURRAy’S name appeared on yesterday’s entry list for next month’s Fever Tree Championships at Queen’s, but grave doubts remain about whether he will be able to play.
His hoped-for return at Wimbledon must also be in question, with sources around the Murray camp saying he has very much scaled back his training in recent weeks as he attempts to recover from January’s hip surgery.
The original plan of making a return at the Loughborough Challenger, which starts on May 21, now looks off the table and his comeback date is much more open- ended. The official word from the Murray team has amounted to vague references to ‘peaks and troughs’ as he tries to reach full fitness and compete properly for the first time since making Wimbledon’s quarterfinals last July. He has also cancelled more than one corporate appearance in recent weeks, and regulars at the All England Club have not seen him there since a training trip to France in March.
yesterday his coach, Jamie delgado, was playing there, but his sparring partner was another big name in British tennis, Tim Henman, rather than the biggest name of all.
Fans of Murray have been starved of social media updates, with nothing of a serious tennis nature having appeared since he travelled to the Mouratoglou Academy near Nice in late March to restart on-court practising. The weekend before last he did post a picture on Instagram, but it was of him enigmatically standing in front of an easel.
In the euphoric days after the operation on January 8 had been deemed a success, Murray was far more active on his accounts. However, it appears that the road back to fitness has become more bumpy since he tried to step up the intensity of his training.
If he were on course to make a singles comeback at Loughborough then he would be playing practice sets by now. After the embarrassment of postponing the unveiling of the new national academy venue last week his nonappearance at the new East Midlands event, largely created with Murray in mind, would not be welcome news for the governing body. Murray remains officially entered at the grass court ATP event in Rosmalen, Holland, beginning on June 11, and at Queen’s the week after. If he were to miss those tournaments then he would be faced with coming back in best- of-five combat at Wimbledon, which he limped out of last summer when the injury flared up.
He is also entered into the Citi Open in Washington dC on July 30.
While no two hip injuries are the same, they are highly problematic for tennis players, given the mechanics of shotmaking and the reliance on abrupt switches of direction. There is no question about Murray’s desire to return to the game. One option if he felt close to competitive fitness would be to try to play doubles only.
In Monte Carlo last month Rafael Nadal, who has repeatedly come back from knee problems, reported that Murray had rung him for advice on matters that he would not disclose.
Murray turns 31 next week, but it looks increasingly unlikely he will be marking his birthday with an imminent return to action.