Andy rallies from injury... and Kim’s back too
Murray’s back but Wimbledon is in doubt
TIME to brush up on your Oohs, Aahs and Oh-I-says, Kim... Andy’s back at work.
With an anxious frown, Kim Murray turned up to watch her husband return to tennis action yesterday after a year out with a hip injury.
The 30-year-old was no doubt keen to see Sir Andy get through a match unscathed as he played at The Queen’s Club Championships in London.
Supporting the two-time Wimbledon winner from the stands, the mother-of-two fiddled nervously with the laces of her floral dress as she waited for the game to start. Murray survived the game without any injury scares, much to the relief of fans hoping to see him back at Wimbledon on July 2.
The 31-year-old Scot has not played since losing at SW1 last year and has dropped to 156th in the world rankings. His return was an encouraging one, winning the first set before eventually losing to Australian Nick Kyrgios.
While Sir Andy was away from the courts, the couple had a second daughter, whose name is yet to be revealed, in November.
ANDY MURRAY hinted that he might not play Wimbledon after playing a remarkable comeback match, but surely SW19 beckons after he defended his turf at Queen’s with a reassuring tenacity.
Five times Murray has played and won finals at the Queen’s Club, but none of those matches may have had the intensity of this first-round defeat at the Fever-Tree Championships against the ever curious figure of nick Kyrgios.
If Murray makes it with his body feeling intact then he might come to celebrate this match with the same gusto to his quintet of titles here. And while he suggested later that nothing is certain in his immediate future, the fire clearly burns brightly in the twice Wimbledon champion.
Having missed 11 months of competition he put himself through two hours and 39 minutes of combat against an opponent who, at times, played with all the seriousness of a Harlem Globetrotter from his preferred sport of basketball. Afterwards, Murray would not discount anyhis thing, including playing at Eastbourne next week: ‘I won’t rule out playing Eastbourne and not playing Wimbledon. I wouldn’t rule out not playing a tournament next week and trying to get matches in an exhibition tournament to get ready for Wimbledon. I’ll talk to my team.’
The record will show that Murray was beaten 2-6 7-6 7-5, and more than an hour after the end of the match the man himself was cautiously optimistic about how he was feeling.
‘I’m a bit stiff just now but it’s the kind of normal stuff you would expect after playing a first match on a grass court,’ he said. ‘Hopefully I won’t be too sore, and my body will do what it is supposed to do. I have taught it to play tennis since I was a kid.
‘The longest I have practised for in the last year is an hour and a half and this was a more intense environment. I’m feeling decent considering that. It wasn’t like I was completely off my feet and couldn’t move anymore at the end. I felt like I moved well but sometimes when I had a bit more time to think about it, my movement was not as good as I would have liked.’
It would be very surprising if he is not at SW19 after this. For what is beyond dispute is that he fought out 229 points against someone who nearly beat Roger Federer at the weekend, and the Scot won almost half of them.
Kyrgios reflected that he had been hampered by a rather unAustralian sense of concern for opponent, plus the fact that he tweaked his hip early on.
‘It was strange because on big points, when I won them, I almost felt bad if I showed any emotion,’ said Kyrgios. ‘Like I didn’t really want to get into his grill at all.’
Asked if he thought Murray could pose a threat at Wimbledon, he responded: ‘If he’s feeling good, I don’t see any reason why not. Only a handful of guys can really play on the grass, anyway. He’s got a good chance.’
Kyrgios began showboating after the second game, and was broken for 4-2 when he started missing 137mph second serves after coming out with a couple of between-the-legs ‘tweeners’.
At 4-4 in the tiebreak Murray, given a standing ovation when he walked on court, was three points from victory but Kyrgios responded with some fine play.
The Scot fought back from a break down twice in the decider and could have served for the match. At 5-5 he had a break point, only for the Australian to pull out a searing ace.
DAN EVANS will today discover if All England Club chiefs have forgiven his year-long ban for taking cocaine by handing him a Wimbledon wildcard.