STAN’S FITNESS WARNING FOR MURRAY
IT IS at Andy Murray’s request that he is playing on a Monday at Eastbourne, where this afternoon he faces fellow three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka. The last time they met it was a long way from this seaside situation, the bruising semi-final at last year’s French Open, which the burly Swiss edged in five sets. It was following that match that Murray’s hip issues began to surface, and as a result these two habitual world top five
players find themselves playing as wildcard entrants in the first round on unfamiliar territory. Murray is ranked 156 and Wawrinka 261. The Swiss has also contended with numerous physical problems since then, and underwent two knee surgeries after Wimbledon that have proved difficult to come back from. For the 31-year-old Scot this will be a second outing after hip surgery, the first
being his encouraging return last week when he ran Nick Kyrgios close. It will be fascinating to see how he fronts up this afternoon. At Queen’s, Wawrinka recalled how he felt ‘dead’ for quite a few days after his own comeback match in Australia this January. ‘For sure when you start, your body starts to be off, even if you have no pain or nothing, because you’re just not used to playing that long,’ he said when asked about Murray. ‘I’m happy for
him that he’s back on tour. It’s never easy, when you’re not used to it.’ The Scot’s preference to play today could offer him a day’s rest if he manages to win, or allow him to head home to his more usual setting of practising at Wimbledon during the week before The Championships. Murray’s concern is whether his body can withstand the rigours of five-set competition this soon into his competitive comeback. He has, however, been back on
the practice court since his defeat by Kyrgios and was yesterday hitting with British No 1 Kyle Edmund, whom he could meet in the second round if he beats Wawrinka. TV: LIVE coverage on BBC website from 2pm NICK KYRGIOS has been fined 15,000 Euros (£13,200) for ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’ during Saturday’s Queen’s semifinal. While sitting during a changeover during his loss to Marin Cilic, the controversial Australian
was caught on camera suggestively stroking his water bottle before squirting some water from it, leaving little to the imagination about what he was imitating.