Healthy Murray happy to be back
LONDON — Everything’s changed for Andy Murray at Wimbledon this time.
A two-time champion at the All England Club, he’s not really considered a serious title contender — by himself or by anyone else, for that matter.
He is not as prepared as usual as the grass-court Grand Slam tournament’s start hits tomorrow, having played a total of three matches all year after recently returning from hip surgery. He is not seeded, because his ranking is outside the top 150.
Murray is, however, thrilled to be playing, provided nothing crops up before he’s scheduled to face Benoit Paire of France in the first round Tuesday.
“I always want to be here competing. It feels a little bit odd coming into the tournament this year,” Murray said yesterday after practice. “Normally, like, at this stage, I feel really nervous, lots of pressure, and I expect a lot of myself around this time of year. I’ve always loved that and enjoyed that in a way. It has been difficult, but enjoyed it. Whereas this year, it feels very, very different.”
The first British man in 77 years to win a Wimbledon singles title when he did so in 2013, before adding another in 2016, Murray lost in the quarterfinals in 2017 to Sam Querrey, clearly hampered by his hip. Murray wound up not playing another match last season, then had his operation in January.
Nearly 12 full months had passed by the time he ventured back into competition at the Queen’s Club grasscourt event less than two weeks ago. Still with a hitch in his gait, Murray played more than 21⁄2 hours before losing to Nick Kyrgios in three sets.
This week, again on grass, Murray beat fellow threetime major champion Stan
Wawrinka, before losing to countryman Kyle Edmund.
“I’m pumped obviously because, I mean, four or five weeks ago, I didn’t know whether I’d be capable of competing at a level I’d be happy with. I think the last couple of weeks has been beneficial,” said Murray, a two-time Olympic singles gold medalist whose first Grand Slam championship came at the 2012 U.S. Open. “I don’t think I played amazing in the matches, but I think I’ve done well, considering the opponents.”
Now comes Paire, a former top-20 player who is currently ranked 48th. Murray has won both of their two previous matchups, including in the fourth round at Wimbledon a year ago.
“He’s a tricky guy to play against, because of his style,” Murray said. “He does hit a lot of drop shots, he serve volleys. He’s unorthodox with his shot selection and stuff. He can be quite up and down, too, at times.”
Get past that test, and Murray could face No. 26 Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the second round.
Asked to assess how deep he might be able to go in the draw, Murray rested his chin on his right hand and exhaled.
“I don’t know. Because how am I supposed to tell you how I’m going to feel if I play for four hours in the first match? I can’t answer that question honestly,” he said. “In terms of how I would fare, how I would do in the tournament, resultswise, I have no idea.”