Murray admits to ‘zero expectations’ for competitive return after year lost to injury
Ex-Wimbledon champion still in pain after surgery Scot retains ambition to reach top of sport he loves
In a refreshingly honest briefing at Queen’s Club yesterday, Andy Murray said that he would need to be realistic about his comeback, which will begin on Tuesday when he faces the talented Australian Nick Kyrgios.
Murray admitted there had been setbacks in his recovery from hip surgery, forcing him to stop hitting balls for the best part of two months between early April and late May.
Now, after just 2½ weeks of renewed effort on the grass courts of London, he will begin what he expects to be a long journey back towards his best form.
“There may be pressure from outside, but I have zero expectations at all for how I play or how I do right now,” said the Scot last night, as he prepared for his return at the FeverTree Championships.
“I think that’s going to take some time. Look, I would love to get back to the top of the game, absolutely. I train and do all of those things to give me the best chance to do that. But it’s not the end of the world if I don’t. I just want to be playing again.
“I don’t know if I will be losing to players that I used to win against or not,” Murray added. “In sport, ideally you play to win. But when you have been away from something that you love doing for a year, you kind of realise.
“I started playing tennis because I loved playing. I didn’t start playing tennis to win Wimbledon or to get to
No1 in the world. I never believed that was something I was going to do. It was not something I thought about as a kid growing up. I played tennis because I loved it. I have continued doing that throughout my whole career. “Pressure and stuff comes as you get older and start to do better. But when you step away and are away from the sport for a long time, you look at things a little bit differently.” On Tuesday, Murray is sure to start out with a flight of butterflies in his stomach. By then, it will be 342 days since his previous appearance on the tour, when he lost to Sam Querrey in last year’s Wimbledon quarter-final.
Yes, he might have five titles under his belt at Queen’s — more than anyone else in the history of this event. But, over the past year, there have been times when he feared he might not even make it back to the service line.
“I’m not pain-free and I don’t expect that, either,” said Murray. “But I have trained hard and kept myself in shape. I’ve eaten right, not ballooned in weight and gone off the rails. I have listened to the people around me.
“I can only go off what I am told from the doctors and their view is that I absolutely can [be competitive again]. I might not start out by playing my best tennis, but I think it would be quite naive to expect that after 11 months out and a couple of surgeries.
“I need to try to be patient as well, which is not always easy. But after it’s been this long, it will be a time before I am feeling my best.
“If I drew Roger Federer in the first round of Wimbledon, it would be a very difficult draw.
“But I don’t have huge expectations for how I am going to perform because of how long I have been out and maybe that will help me.”
On a gloomy day in south-west London suburbia, the sound of tennis balls being thwacked back and forth fills the air. Winning shots are celebrated with polite smatterings of applause, punctuated by solemn calls of “15-0 … deuce … game” from the various umpires.
This is the Surbiton Trophy – a low-key Challenger event that takes place in the lead-up to Wimbledon. It is designed mainly for younger players hoping to climb the tennis ladder and veterans who never quite made it to the top level.
The doubles competition especially is not where you would expect to find a supposedly retired two-time grand slam champion and former world No 1. But for Lleyton Hewitt, who won Wimbledon 16 years ago and first competed at the Australian Open as a 15-year-old in 1997, retirement is a fluid concept.
“When you’re retired you’re retired for an awfully long time,” he says at the Surbiton Racket & Fitness Club, still looking in peak physical condition aged 37. “So I guess while my body is still able and I’m still mentally willing to train and stay in good shape, I may as well go out there and have a go.”
Hewitt ended up battling to the semi-finals of the Surbiton event with the young Australian Alex Bolt, having earlier this year reached the quarters of the Australian Open and Estoril Open with Sam Groth and Alex de Minaur respectively.
He competed at the Rosmalen Championships this week with Bolt and next week Hewitt will line up with Nick Kyrgios in the Fever-Tree Championships at The Queen’s Club, where he won four singles titles in the early to mid-2000s. A Wimbledon doubles wild card also looks likely.
This is all in spite of the fact that Hewitt officially quit in January 2016, theoretically bringing an end to a career that saw him become the youngest ever male world No 1 aged 20 in 2001.
It may seem like ancient history now but before Roger Federer – who is only six months Hewitt’s junior – and Rafael Nadal, Hewitt looked set to dominate tennis with his fist-pumping, eye-popping intensity.
Hewitt ultimately lacked the firepower to add more grand slams to his US Open and Wimbledon wins but in his so-called retirement, he has found a second wind. Hewitt plays occasional doubles events, captains the Australian Davis Cup team and coaches young Aussie players like world No 96 De Minaur. He and wife Bec also have three young children – daughters Mia (12) and Ava (seven), and son Cruz (nine) – to look after.
In fact, Hewitt is so busy these days he resembles the former CEO who in retirement sits on a board, advises a charity and has Russian lessons in their spare time.
And yet despite how full his life is, and having achieved all that he has, Hewitt is grinding away in front of a few hundred spectators in Surbiton. Why bother?
“I guess in some ways I’m addicted to tennis,” Hewitt explains. “I’m still a competitive guy when I get on the court. I love competing, whatever it is. I play over-35s basketball in Melbourne on a Wednesday night and it’s competitive. It gets the juices flowing.”
Does Hewitt still think he could cut it in the singles? “At times I do, yeah,” he replies. “I can still hit pretty well.”
Hewitt proudly describes beating Novak Djokovic in a quick-fire
Tie Break Tens event in January, and you suspect that were it not for a litany of injuries – including operations on both hips and debilitating foot surgery – he would still be on the singles circuit.
Instead, even the indefatigable Hewitt eventually had to listen to his creaking body. But the multiple hip surgeries he had to deal with make him well placed to comment on the plight of Andy Murray, who is desperately trying to overcome his own intractable hip problem but will make his comeback at Queen’s against Hewitt’s doubles partner, Kyrgios.
Hewitt’s operations were not quite as serious as Murray’s was in January, but whatever the injury he suggests the psychological challenges can be as big as the physical ones: “It’s tough. Not just physically but more mentally because you know you’re capable of still playing great tennis.
“That’s where it becomes more of a mental battle and I’ve spoken to Andy a few times since he had the operation. You realise how much you miss it and how much you do actually love the sport.”
While Murray soldiers on, Hewitt had to accept two years ago that he would not be able to remain a full-time player. But even before he quit, Hewitt started making retirement plans and was named Australia’s Davis Cup captain in October 2015 – a role he seemed destined for since debuting for his country aged 18.
Unlike most leading players, Hewitt prioritised the Davis Cup throughout his career – winning the competition twice – and he expects a similar dedication from his young charges now. Hewitt insists this is the case, even if he has inherited a group of talented but hugely complex individuals.
The mercurial Kyrgios is one such player but Hewitt says the pair have “a fantastic relationship”.
“He’s got to become a bit more disciplined with his body and keep working hard and pushing himself but he’s an extraordinary talent. He’s destined for the top 10.”
Of Bernard Tomic, whose ranking has plummeted amid an existential crisis that includes being fined £11,600 after saying he was “bored” during a Wimbledon defeat last year and appearing on Australia’s I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, Hewitt shakes his head.
“With Bernie, it’s pretty frustrating because he is talented,” Hewitt says. “But it comes back to him and his will to go out there and push himself.” The passion that defined Hewitt on court is evident when discussing his fellow Australians, but he really comes alive when assessing proposals to radically revamp the Davis Cup. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) – funded by a consortium led by Barcelona defender Gerard Pique – plans to alter the competition from a knockout format of four home-and-away ties to one home-and-away tie followed by an 18-team event in a neutral venue. Hewitt is scathing about the proposals, which include making matches best of three rather than best of five sets and will be voted on at the ITF’s annual general meeting in August: “The new reforms would kill the Davis Cup. No doubt.
“You cannot throw more than 100 years’ history down the drain for money. It shows we need better people running the sport at the ITF. I don’t think they have enough knowledge. We just can’t sell our soul for this event.” Hewitt is adamant that the competition must stay best of five sets and retain its current home and away element. The latter he feels is crucial to developing young players by exposing them to the Davis Cup’s fevered atmosphere, while at the same time growing the sport by ensuring fans across the world can see exciting top-level tennis.
Hewitt adds that details like both teams having their own locker room are unique in tennis to the Davis Cup and “are the little things that people sitting making these decisions that have never played the game or represented their country wouldn’t have a clue about.”
It is striking to observe the complete conviction in Hewitt as he speaks, and it offers a tiny insight into what it must be like standing on the other side of the net as he chases down every ball and screams “C’mon!” in your face.
Admittedly, Hewitt has mellowed slightly since his pugnacious peak. But there are still some concessions he will refuse to make, such as letting his nine-year-old son Cruz – a promising junior – beat him at tennis.
“Sometimes he gets me to a couple of breakers,” Hewitt says, smirking. “But beating me? I wouldn’t hear the end of it.”
Lleyton Hewitt will play doubles with Nick Kyrgios at the Fever-Tree Championships, which starts tomorrow at The Queen’s Club. Tickets – www. fevertreechampionships.com