When I heard Andy’s roar, I thought, ‘OK, it’s game on’

It was torture watching Andy’s spectacular comeback against Yoshihito Nishioka at the US Open on his return to Grand Slam singles tennis.

There have been many rollercoaster moments over the 15 years he has been playing on the circuit, but that one was so big from an emotional point of view as it was his first Grand Slam after his hip problem resurfacing. And it is still very early days.

That was only his fourth match at the top level since the beginning of the year. There are a lot of reasons for that, not just the injury but the pandemic which has limited everybody’s options to compete.

I was just hoping it would be a great experience for him and that his body would hold out. It was a big test as it was his first best-of-five-sets match since January 2019.

He was quite subdued at the start of the match, which is very unusual for him. He’s not normally that quiet. It did make me wonder whether something was bothering him or if he wasn’t feeling well. He lost the first two sets then, in the third set when he let out his first “Come on!” roar, I thought, “OK, here we go. Game on.”

He finally won in four hours 38 minutes but was to go out to Felix Auger-aliassime in the second round.

Andy has always thrived on a challenge and the more his back is to the wall the more he loves the fight and it was wonderful to see he still has that spirit.

But there shouldn’t be any expectation of him at this stage.

It is still early in his comeback. He is able to play again a very high level and of course you want him to climb further, but you have to take small steps.