Doc who wrote me off has inspired Slam return
Andy Murray will finally return to Grand Slam singles action tomorrow, and somewhere in his mind will be the thought of a surgeon who wrote him off.
Eighteen months on from his emotional — supposedly final — major appearance at the 2019 australian Open, the 33-year-old Scot and his resurfaced hip will tackle Japan’s yoshihito nishioka in the uS Open first round.
ahead of what promises be a gruelling baseline war, Murray revealed that a prime source of motivation in his fitness struggles has been an unnamed doctor, who offered him the view in 2017 that his career was probably over.
‘There is one person in particular that helped me,’ he said. ‘It was the surgeon who told me after Wimbledon in 2017 that I didn’t have long left and I could have surgery — resurfacing or hip replacement — but I wouldn’t play professional sport again.
‘It was weird timing, I actually bumped into him the morning after I had the hip resurfacing (early last year) when I took my first steps with the crutches. I walked past him in the hallway and he smiled at me and said to my wife, “I told him he was going to have to do this”.
‘It just really got me. I was not happy. I would say that was the thing that gave me the biggest motivation because at that moment I had obviously been going through a difficult time, had the operation and I felt that there was a bit of smugness to what he told me.
‘That was kind of enough for me. and I was actually going to send him a bottle of wine to say thanks for the motivation once I had got back on the court competing again, but I haven’t brought myself to do that yet.’
any long-time observer of this extraordinary athlete will know that perceived slights have always been a powerful fuel. But usually it is someone in the media putting the pump in the tank, not a member of the medical profession.
Murray has surprised himself that he is back in the big time, although his remarkable triumph in last October’s European
Open final in antwerp should not be overlooked.
That was only the precursor to more problems, connected to his pelvis, but now he is back where he won his first Grand Slam title eight years ago.
He admits that the undulating, science- defying journey has had more lows than highs.
‘The worst part was when I was lying to people or not being totally honest — because of the nature of sport I didn’t want to say,’ reflected Murray.
‘That is why in australia (in January 2019) I was very upset because it was the first time I had spoken openly about it, but I had been struggling for a long time and trying to put a brave face on it.’
The surgery that followed went so well that by late June he was back playing — and winning — in doubles.
‘With each month that passed, I started to believe,’ he said. ‘I was a bit p***** off I wasn’t allowed to play singles at Wimbledon last year because actually I was feeling good physically in terms of having no pain.
‘But I didn’t really know until I started playing practice sets post-Wimbledon and beat a few guys in practice in Washington dC. I was like, “OK, I think I am going to be all right here”. It was probably not until I got back on the tour and played guys in singles that I actually really believed it.
‘That was probably a good four or five months later. I couldn’t speak to anyone, except really Bob Bryan (who had the same thing), about their experiences of it.’
Murray is unsure what will be easier for him — the Grand Slam format of potential five- setters with a day off in between, or events like antwerp where it is best- of- three, but playing on consecutive days.
‘In antwerp I played five matches in five days. From memory I actually felt all right after that. So I don’t really know. Last week was tough the day after the match with (alex) Zverev, but these were also the first matches I had played in 10 months.
‘My body will learn fast. It has been playing tennis matches its whole life. I think it will adjust to what it is required to do. It might just take a bit of time because it has not done it for a while.’
The reality is that his combination of outstanding speed and stamina is not quite as it was, so expectations should be tempered. nishioka, a relentless and consistent baseliner, will not be easy.
Play today begins at 4pm UK time, with British men’s No 3 Cam Norrie in action against the ninth seed Diego Schwartzman from Argentina. Live on Amazon Prime.