Murray is gifted trophy — and a clean bill of health

TENNIS: Andy Murray picked up his first trophy of the season without having to play a match after Novak Djokovic withdrew ahead of their final in Abu Dhabi because of illness.

And the Scot was later reassured by the results of a scan on his shoulder, saying: ‘It’s fine. There aren’t any tears, just soreness.’

Murray had revealed concerns on Friday, two weeks before the start of the Australian Open. He had felt pain in his left shoulder during his 6-2, 6-0 semi-final romp past Rafael Nadal and said: ‘I’ve never had anything happen to my left shoulder before.

‘It’s pretty sore and at the end of the match when I was reaching out to sign autographs it was quite painful.’ Murray plans to team up with Heather Watson to represent Great Britain at the Hopman Cup in Perth this week.

The pair are scheduled to play their opening match against France tomorrow. Murray took to the court to collect his trophy in Abu Dhabi, hours after Djokovic had said he could not play because of a fever. Twenty-four hours earlier the Serb had looked in sparkling form, brushing aside Stan Wawrinka in his semi-final. ‘It’s unfortunate that Novak wasn’t feeling well,’ said Murray. ‘I go over to Australia tonight to play my next event and hopefully I can keep it going.’

Nadal secured his first win of the season by beating Wawrinka 7-6, 6-3 to claim third place.