Murray targets gold on comeback trail

Andy Murray is already thinking ahead to his next big test on the comeback trail after Wimbledon. He aims to return from Tokyo with an Olympic medal and knows the colour he wants.

The Scot, back on court today at SW19 against German qualifier Oscar Otte, struck gold at the London and Rio games and hopes to repeat the trick when the delayed 2020 sporting spectacular begins next month.

“My goal is to try and win a medal - ideally a gold one,” Murray said. “It will be great to go to Tokyo and play there. We’re lucky that the Olympics are going ahead this year and personally I’ve always enjoyed the experience of the games. I want to win for my country and will give my best effort to do that.”

Confirmationofhissecondround opponent at the Allengland club came last night and with it a big compliment. Praising Murray’s steel after an injury-bedevilled four years for the two-times champion, Otte said: “He’s an unreal athlete and one of the best ever for sure.”

Murray returned to singles action at Wimbledon for the first time since 2017 with a thrilling, three-and-ahalf hour victory. The Centre Court crowd compared monday night’ s win to the many rollercoaster affairs from his triumphant reign here - once his army of fans had got their breath back, this is.

Murray, a wild card this time, raced to a two-sets, 5-0 lead over Nikoloz Basilashvili, but then the Georgian No 24 seed suddenly stirred and won seven games on the bounce. If that was nerve-shredding for the crowd then Murray knew how they felt. During a delay for the court to be covered, he was thinking about how, if he was to suffer a complete collapse, the match might be written up.

He said: “There was pressure in that moment, having just lost seven games on the spin, the headlines [that you had] choked and, you know, one of the worst defeats of your career.”