Hip hip hooray Murray marks his return to grand-slam tennis with victory in US Open
Scot ekes out win then reveals punishing rehab Englishman beaten after fading against Lorenzi
Andy Murray celebrated his first win at a grand slam for 13 months yesterday – and then revealed the seven-hours-a-day rehab programme that has helped him manage his chronic hip problem.
Playing the unheralded Australian James Duckworth on Louis Armstrong Stadium, Murray was steady enough to eke out a 6-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 win in three hours and 17 minutes. On the moderate form he showed yesterday, he must be considered the underdog in the next round against 31st seed Fernando Verdasco. But that is hardly the point. Simply to be competing at all is a huge achievement.
“Last week when I was rehabbing after Cincinnati, I was doing two-and-a-half hours in the morning,” said Murray, which presumably referred to time spent in the gym. “Then like an hour and a half in the pool in the afternoon, and then on top of that, treatment, which can be anywhere from two to three hours. It’s pretty intense.”
If any ordinary mortal found themselves in Murray’s position – with a career tally of three grand slam titles, two Olympic gold medals and more than £47 million in prize-money – he or she might lack the desire to put themselves through such punishment.
But Murray is utterly focused on becoming the first man to return from hip surgery to compete for the biggest prizes, and this singlemindedness – as much as his extraordinary talent – is the single biggest reason to believe he might make it. As Murray’s coach Jamie Delgado told The Daily Telegraph at the weekend: “There’s no guarantees with anything but he is a good guy to have in your corner. Someone who wants it that badly and will go the whole distance, who does everything he is ever asked.”
We are yet to see the full rewards of his labours, but there were clear signs of progress yesterday. Admittedly, Murray was sluggish in the first set – something he attributed to the hot weather, which made the ball fly more than it had during last week’s practices. But he improved as the day wore on, and the running forehand pass that brought up match point was a vintage move.
The serve, meanwhile, held up strongly. This was the individual shot which was most affected by
Murray will be the underdog against Verdasco but just to be competing is a huge achievement
the hip problem, and Murray told the Wall Street Journal this week that during his struggles last year, “I was throwing the ball quite far to the right because I didn’t want to extend my back as much as I used to.” Again, he did throw in one milk float of a second serve early on, which logged 71mph on the speed gun. In general, though, he looked far more comfortable than he had during the grass-court season.
Part of this may also be down to the different footing. As Murray explained last night: “You have to be a lot more careful with your movement [on grass]. Whereas here, you can really ram your foot down and know it’s not going to go from underneath you. The hard court’s definitely helped with that, with the change-of-direction stuff. But my movement still needs to get better.”
Murray’s old limp was not visible at all during the first few games, though it made a return late in the first set, and he also admitted after the match that he expected to experience hip pain until he retires.
But the odd thing was that the British player who experienced the most worrying physical symptoms yesterday was not Murray but Kyle Edmund, who suffered a demoralising 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Paolo Lorenzi.
On the face of it, Edmund’s lack of stamina looked concerning when you consider that he has a 13-year advantage on Lorenzi, the 36-yearold Italian who reached the fourth round here last year. But that disappointment turned into downright anxiety once he had revealed that the supposed “tonsillitis” that had affected him after Wimbledon was actually a recurrence of another viral condition, which had already laid him low after his run to the semi-finals of January’s Australian Open.
“Physically I need to get better,” Edmund said. “There is some stuff that has been happening with my body. I have just got to look after and manage it. It’s an illness, it just takes it out of you. It’s basically just put me back quite a bit.
“My mentality is always try to work and get it back,” he added. “Sitting on the sofa does not improve your fitness. There is no magic way, it is a lot of hard work. Davis Cup is two weeks away, so I will do everything I can [to play]. I don’t know, we’ll see.”
Edmund had started off strongly, using his ferocious forehand to bully Lorenzi. But as this 3hr 12min match wore on, his body began to seize up visibly. He was unable to move for certain balls towards the end of the third set and then found himself hopping at times in the fourth as his right leg stiffened up with cramp.
Lorenzi did not have to do anything but keep the ball in play as he closed out his win.