Emotional Andy Murray back with win but unsure how long he can go on for

A visibly emotional Andy Murray said he does not know how much longer he will play competitive tennis as he kicked off the new year with a tough first-round win at the Brisbane International.

The former world No 1 appeared to fight back tears as he reflected on his battle to resume his career following hip surgery, saying it had been “really hard”.

Murray progressed to the second round on Tuesday with a 6-3 6-4 victory over the Australian wildcard James Duckworth.

Speaking in his on-court interview after the match, Murray said of his recovery: “It’s not easy to sort of sum up in one sentence or one answer, it’s been really hard; 18 months, a lot of ups and downs, it’s been tricky to just get back on the court competing again.

“So I’m happy I’m back out here again, I want to try and enjoy it as much as I can and just try and enjoy playing tennis as long as I can. I don’t know how much longer it’s going to last but we’ll see.”

It was in Brisbane last January when Murray decided that he would have to undergo surgery for a problem that first surfaced in the summer of 2017. The two-times Wimbledon champion managed just half a dozen tournaments in 2018 and spent several periods during the last six months in Philadelphia working with a reconditioning specialist.

Now ranked 240 in the world, he appeared positive about his meeting with Duckworth, who is six places above him in the ATP rankings. Murray said he thought he “did quite well”, but admitted he may have been “a little bit nervous” at the start of the match. “I think for a first match of the new year after quite a long break it was all right,” the 31year-old said.

Murray broke Duckworth three times in a match that lasted just short of 90 minutes, firstly in the sixth game of the first set. But the 26-year-old Australian fought back, breaking Murray in the seventh.

Murray returned fire to break in the eighth game before serving out the set. Duckworth kept up the pressure in the second set, forcing his opponent to save four break points in the second game. But Murray held on and eventually broke his opponent’s serve in the ninth game before serving out for the win. Murray will next face Daniil Medvedev, who is ranked 16 in the world and the No 4 seed, in the second round.

Meanwhile, Johanna Konta upset Sloane Stephens, beating the thirdseeded American 6-4 6-3 in under two hours to book a second round clash with Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.