MURRAY STEPS UP OZ BID WITH ABU DHABI MOVE

ANDY MURRAY was last night flying out in the direction of Australia, though there is still no certainty that he will be playing in the tournaments in the country next month. The 30-year-old Scot has decided to travel to Abu Dhabi to do some further practice before deciding what his next move will be. The Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition event begins there today and while he will not be taking part in it, he has requested to use the facilities which are attached to the tournament. What appears to be happening is that Murray wants to play some sets, or do some serious practice, against some of the players there that are fully involved. Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem and Roberto Bautista Agut are among those in the Emirate, so there may be a chance for him to play with some of them and gauge how his troublesome hip holds up. By the weekend, he will then decide whether to proceed to the Brisbane International ATP Tour event, which has long been his official comeback date. As he is seeded, he could wait until as late as January 4 to play his first-round match in Queensland, should he be convinced that he is fit enough to play. This is all still some way short of the original plans he spoke about when facing Roger Federer in his charity exhibition in Glasgow on November 7. Murray then talked of going to Australia well before Christmas to acclimatise properly before Brisbane. Instead, he returned from a truncated training block in Miami two weeks ago and has been in the UK since. The reasons for the change have not been made clear, although there were reports from Florida that he was not able to do all the training he wanted during that stay.