The Herald - Herald Sport

Murray ready to show mettle... with metal hip

- SIMON CAMBERS

CONSIDERIN­G what he’s been through to even get to this point, Andy Murray may just begin his US Open campaign today feeling that he’s playing with house money.

Less than 18 months after he thought his career might be over as he had an operation that left him with a metal hip, the former world No.1 is back in the thick of the action, raring to go.

Murray plays Japan’s Yoshihito Nishikova, a man ranked 66 places above the

Scot at No.49, one of the fastest players on the Tour who will make him work hard for every point.

But Murray has shown throughout his career that he will do everything required to get the most out of his game and at 33, he is as keen to do well as he ever was.

“It’s been a long kind of journey to kind of get back to this point,” Murray said. “I’m going to compete at a time where I’m not worried… about how my hip’s going to feel, things like that. The last time that would have been was in the 2017 French Open. It’s a long time ago.

“I know I’ve played a couple of slams since then, but that wasn’t really me on the court. Whereas now, yeah, I’m not as quick probably as I was before, but I’m able to go out there and compete and focus on the tennis, hopefully be able to last a five-set match without my performanc­e seriously deteriorat­ing as it goes on.

“It’s been tough to get to this point, a lot of hard work, lots of ups and downs. But I made it back. It would be nice to go out there and get a win on Tuesday.”

The way he played last week in the Cincinnati Masters, which was played on the US Open courts due to Coronaviru­s restrictio­ns, suggests he may do better than one win.

Victories over Felix AugerAlias­sime and then world No.5 Sascha Zverev showed Murray has lost none of his quality, and though he was well-beaten by an in-form Milos Raonic in the third round, he will have taken confidence from the week.

His former coach Brad Gilbert, now a pundit with ESPN, said Murray is the kind of player who could force his way through if any gaps open up in the draw.

“I got this feeling there will be one section, that will be blown up because no Rafa [Nadal], no Fed [Roger Federer], there will be one section, where nobody’s ever made a semi or final of a slam, and somebody like Murray, he’s somebody that will be able to take advantage of it.

“If he plays a five-set match first round, how does he recover physically? [But] The guy’s battled back, kudos to him for battling back.”

Former British No.1 Greg Rusedski said Murray will be dangerous because he feels like he has been given a second chance. “I think anything he does right now is bonus time,” said Rusedski. “He’s had an amazing career, he’s done exceptiona­lly well If he gets into the second week, I think that would be a good result.”

 ??  ?? Andy Murray performed well at the Western & Southern Open
Andy Murray performed well at the Western & Southern Open

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