The Scotsman

‘Slowly but surely’ Murray is getting closer to full fitness

● Scot is targeting return to action at the end of the year

- By EVE FODENS

Andy Murray has posted two videos of himself in training as he nears a comeback from his injury lay-off.

The Scot posted a video on Saturday night with the caption: “Slowly but surely getting there,” and followed it up with a clip on Sunday evening saying: “Can’t wait to get back on the match court competing… I miss it so much.”

In September, Murray announced his decision to take a break from tennis in a bid to sort out his troublesom­e hip.

He has not completely ruled out a return to the courts before the year is out, although did say that he would “not be able to compete in Beijing and Shanghai, and most likely, the final two events in Vienna and Paris”.

Although he took a decision not to undergo surgery on his hip, Murray confirmed he would be participat­ing in an extensive rehabilita­tion course to try to cure his issues.

He said in September: “Although this has been a frustratin­g year on court for many reasons, I’m confident that, after this extended period of rest and rehabilita­tion, I will be able to reach my best level again and be competing for Grand Slam titles.”

Murray is targeting a playing return on 31 December at the Brisbane Internatio­nal, but is set to appear at his charity event at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow on 7 November to play Roger Federer in an exhibition match.

Another top player who has been out through injury, Novak Djokovic, will make his return in Abu Dhabi at December’s World Tennis Championsh­ip.

The Serbian has skipped the back end of the current season because of an elbow injury, playing no part since abandoning his Wimbledon quarter-final against Tomas Berdych in July.

But the 30-year-old will return for the 2018 campaign, and the 12-time grand slam winner is planning an early start with an appearance at the 28-30 December exhibition tournament in the United Arab Emirates. He joins a six-player field which also features Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem, Milos Raonic and Pablo Carreno Busta. Djokovic said on www.mubadalawt­c.com: “The line-up is very strong as always and it will be the perfect way to make my comeback and begin the season.”

The tournament is barely two weeks before the Australian Open, the first grand slam of the season, which Djokovic has won six times. It begins on 15 January in Melbourne.

In yesterday’s ATP action, Britain’s Kyle Edmund beat Spain’s David Ferrer in straight sets to reach the second round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.

Edmund, 22, beat former world No 3 Ferrer 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), sealing progress to the last 16 by clinching his second match point in a hardfought tie-break. World No 63 Edmund broke the 35-year-old Spaniard, currently 29th in the ATP rankings, in his opening two service games to open up a 3-0 lead in the first set and held his own throughout to take it in 45 minutes. Ferrer was broken twice more in the second set but, on each occasion, hit straight back to take the Briton’s serve and level it up to ensure a tie-break.

Edmund opened up a 5-2 lead in the tie-break and although Ferrer fended off his first match point, the British No 3 sealed victory at the second attempt.

Next up for Edmund is a last16 clash against Austria’s world No 284 Dennis Novak or Italian Thomas Fabbiano.

 ??  ?? 0 Andy Murray is back on the practice courts after a troublesom­e hip injury curtailed his season.
0 Andy Murray is back on the practice courts after a troublesom­e hip injury curtailed his season.

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