Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HEAVY METTLE Murray: I proved surgeons wrong after hip op and hope it inspires others to keep fighting
ANDY MURRAY wants to be an inspiration as he prepares to play his first Grand Slam singles tournament with a metal hip at the US Open next week.
He believes he has proved doubting surgeons wrong by returning to the top after his second operation in January last year.
The three-time Major champion reached the third round of the final warm-up event at the Western & Southern Open by beating world No.7 Alex Zverev – his best victory in ranking terms since 2016.
And despite losing to Milos Raonic, Murray is ready to play his first Grand-slam singles match since his emotional defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut in Melbourne in January 2019 (right).
“I’m very excited to play a US Open again,” he said. “Probably deep down I didn’t feel like I was ready to stop. When I got the injury, the problem started and I was ranked No.1 in the world.
“Maybe I didn’t appreciate the sport enough, didn’t appreciate how lucky I was to be doing this.
“It’s a challenge playing with a metal hip. It’s not that easy. I have learned lots about myself.
“It’s been a good journey. Hopefully, I have inspired some people who have these issues and might have the operation to try and keep going.
“A few surgeons told me it was done, which annoyed me. But after the last setback in November, I was pretty gutted, to be honest, about that.
“It was like, ‘I’m back, I can play, I can compete, I can win tournaments and stuff ’, and then I got a setback and I didn’t know whether that was going to get better or not. So that was hard.
“But I think because I can still play with the best players in the world and do myself justice, that if I can stay healthy, I’ll have some more good tennis moments.”
Murray, who was 33 in May, said he was also looking forward to the return of fans with the American Grand Slam being played behind closed doors instead of the usual raucous atmosphere in New York. “When you’re here and playing in front of no fans in the evening, it’s just not quite the same,” said the 2012 US Open champion. “I’m looking forward to getting the chance to do that again, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. To play at Wimbledon again would also be nice.”
American superstar Serena Williams, who is seeking a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, lost 5-7 7-6 6-1 to Maria Sakkari at the Western & Southern.