Murray is making strides as he gears up for Federer test
AS the autumn days have closed in, Andy Murray has been getting accustomed to a routine very different to his usual jet-set itinerary at this time of year. Instead of travelling around Asia and the indoor tennis arenas of Europe, he has been getting into his car and making the short trip up the A3 from his Surrey home into south-west London to the private courts he favours.
For more than a month, his training hangout has been either the indoor courts at Wimbledon, or the bubble at the more anonymous facility the All England Club owns further into the suburbs at Raynes Park.
Following his abortive attempt to play the US Open in late August, he was told to take a complete break from the court.
In more recent weeks, he has quietly been working away under the eye of people like his fitness trainer Matt Little and physio Shane Annun, with an assortment of hitting partners.
The 30-year-old Scot has been in unusually furtive mode, but on Tuesday night there will be a complete change of pace — taking on Roger Federer, very publicly, at the Hydro Arena in Glasgow in their long-planned exhibition match to raise money for his charity foundation.
Normally this kind of occasion would attract little in the way of serious attention, beyond the chance for people to see two supreme athletes giving each other a glorified workout, all for a good cause.
This time it is different, and not just because it is a rare excursion for the Swiss, whose global superstardom is now such that him coming here may feel something akin to a state visit.
It will also be an opportunity to gauge how far down the road Murray is on a comeback trail that is supposed to lead him to Brisbane in the first week of January next year. As of tomorrow, his world ranking is expected to have slipped to around No 15, his first time outside the top ten in three years.
Since he limped out of the Wimbledon quarter-finals in mid-July, he has given precious little away about the exact nature of his hip problems.
What is apparent is that he has seen some of the world’s leading hip specialists, not just in the UK but Switzerland and the United States, to plot his course forward.
Evidently the consensus of advice has been that rest and rehab work is a plausible way to manage his degenerative condition, rather than to opt for an operation.
Murray has also been spending a considerable amount of time with Teresina Goheen, his personal instructor in Gyrotonics, the flexibility technique which he has spoken of before as being particularly helpful to his hips.
There are vaguely promising signs that this prolonged period out of the game — the longest since he underwent back surgery in September 2013 — will enable him to compete properly at the start of next season. One source close to him told
The Mail on Sunday that his relatively late withdrawal from the Paris Masters was not merely a cosmetic exercise, but that he had seriously considered giving it a try.
It is also understood he already has plans in place to travel to Miami for his annual winter training period earlier than he usually would, and then to go to Australia prior to Christmas to give himself proper acclimatisation ahead of the Brisbane International.
While he has been quiet on social media, Murray has allowed the posting of two brief clips of him practising. His partners have included British pros Jay Clarke and Alex Ward, and brother Jamie.
‘I hit with him the other week and he was hitting the ball absolutely fine and he was slowly building up his movement,’ said Jamie this week in Paris.
‘He’s not going full out but that wasn’t his plan. He’s taking it slowly then building it. As far as I’m aware, he totally wants to get back to playing and at the levels he is used to playing at.’
It will be revealing on Tuesday to see how hard Federer goes at Andy and the level they play at in an exhibition match.
Federer’s first appearance in Scotland will see Murray raise hundreds of thousands of pounds in front of a 14,000-strong crowd.
‘We’re going to have a good time and it’s wonderful what he’s doing in his philanthropic efforts, good causes,’ said Federer. ‘I always enjoy going to new places, so I’m excited to be going to Scotland for the first time.’
Jamie, Tim Henman and veteran trick specialist Mansour Bahrami will participate in a doubles match at the Hydro.