Murray feeling fine after first match back
ANDY MURRAY feels good and is confident he will continue to improve as the matches keep coming.
The 33-year-old played his first competitive tennis in nine months as he beat Frances Tiafoe in the first round of the Western & Southern Open in New York and admitted he was far from his best, but is feeling in much better shape than he has for a long time as the US Open approaches.
“Physically, I thought I did pretty well,” said the former British No.1 who has been battling a hip injury. “I moved maybe better than I expected to. The first few matches back when I started playing singles last year I moved way worse than I did here, so that was positive.
“My tennis could have been better. I guess that will come, the more matches I play. But I always need to see as well how I recover from a match like that too, because although I felt good during the match, things can sometimes stiffen up and hurt a bit afterwards. I’m happy with how I did here.”
Murray, who faces a last-32 date with Alexander Zverev today, admits his mindset has changed since battling injury problems and knows he still faces a long road to a full recovery.
“I would say I probably have lower expectations,” he said. “I know the tennis will come, but it’s also not going to come back immediately, so it’s just not to expect, straight off the bat, to be playing perfect.
“I didn’t expect to play unbelievable. But I spoke with my coach the last couple of days and he was saying to me ‘you’re good enough to win matches even when you’re not feeling good’ and to remember that sometimes. I think that’s one of the things that I need to remember.”