MURRAY: I WON’T HURRY RETURN
Andy enjoys Glasgow knees-up but calls for patience after hip injury
ANDY MURRAY is hoping he can copy Roger Federer’s dramatic recovery from injury – but warned fans to be patient.
The 30-year-old lost to Federer in a charity match in Glasgow last night, his first public appearance since limping away from Wimbledon after losing to Sam Querrey in the quarter-finals.
The British No.1 and double Wimbledon champion opted to rest a degenerative hip problem rather than have surgery and claims he will be as good as ever.
“I will, yes,” said Murray, who was beaten 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. “You never know when you’re coming back from any injury, but that’s what I’m working towards.
“When I get back on the court next year and start playing again it might not come immediately at the beginning of the year. I might not play my best tennis straight off. But you never know how you’re going to come back from injuries. I have been hitting the ball very well in practice – it’s just that there is a difference between that 75 to 80 per cent practice and going flat out at 100 per cent for two and a half or three hours on the match court.
“Until I do that I can’t say for certain, but I think I’ll be able to come back just fine.”
Murray can find inspiration from Federer’s return six months after knee surgery which saw victory at the 2017 Australian Open and kicked off a remarkable season at the age of 36, including another Championship title at SW19. If all goes according to plan, Murray will be involved in warm-up events in Brisbane at the turn of the year before taking part in the Australian Open which begins on January 15.
The former world No.1 has slipped to 16th in the rankings and added: “I hope I’m there, things have been going pretty well so far in the rehab. You have setbacks and then things come on quite quickly as well. Some days I’ve felt great, some days not so good, but I’m getting there.
“I’ll come back when I’m ready and 100 per cent fit. I probably made a bit of a mistake trying to get ready for the US Open but it was the last Major of the year and I wanted to give it a go.
“Now it’s been time to give my body the rest and recovery it needs. There are a few things going on in my hip that I don’t need to talk about here but, look, I’m sure most athletes do that when they have an issue.
“It had been causing me a problem for six, maybe eight weeks, from the French Open right through until I was really struggling by the end of Wimbledon. It became a big issue there and I was like, ‘I need to get this sorted out, I need to chat to some people’.
“So I spoke to a bunch of specialists. Surgery was not recommended and that’s great.
“You never know how you’re going to come back from surgery. If you can go a conservative route it’s better.
“So I sat down with my team and it was like: let’s just take time to get ready again, do all of the rehab, get yourself as strong as possible.”