Andy Murray (zimbio.com)
When Andy Murray fell down the ATP World Tour rankings to 833rd in the world he didn’t panic. Instead, he poked fun at it by uploading a picture of his position on Instagram with the caption ‘Proud.’
The upbeat mentality of the three-time grand slam champion continues as he prepares to start his North American hard court swing. Murray will play at the upcoming Citi Open in Washington after being granted a wildcard. A tournament he last reached the final at back in 2006 at the age of 19.
“It’s feeling better all the time,” Murray told reporters in the American capital on Saturday about his hip. “It takes time after you’ve been out for a long period to get the match sharpness back. I’ve only played three matches in the past year, so I’m just trying to get back on the match court as much as I can and see how I’m feeling after playing two, three, four, five matches in a week. That’s the big test.”
The Citi Open will only be Murray’s third tournament of 2018. He didn’t begin his season until June due to a hip injury that sidelined him from the tour for almost a year. In January he underwent surgery to help repair the problem. During his comeback, the Brit has managed to win one out of three matches played. Defeating Stan Wawrinka at the Eastbourne International. His two losses were at the hands of Nick Kyrgios and Kyle Edmund.
It could be argued that returning to the hard courts will be a boost for the 31-year-old. Murray has contested 67 ATP finals during his career in which 52 of those have occurred on a hard court. Nevertheless, he admits that he is apprehensive about his upcoming matches.
“I’ve not played a hard court match for a very long time. A lot of anxiety about that. I’m sure after the first few games out there I’ll be fine.” He explained.
https://twitter.com/CitiOpen/status/1022937268300988416
Everything appears to be moving in the right direction for the injury-stricken Brit, but it is match-wins that he needs. This time 12 months ago, he was ranked No.1 in the ATP emirates rankings. Becoming the first British player in the Open Era to do so. He held that position for 41 weeks, before his hiatus resulted in him spiralling outside of the world’s top 800.
“I want to stay healthy through the end of the year. I think if I do that, then I’ll start to win more matches, my ranking will move up. If I only play one or two tournaments and then take a break for a month, it’s just difficult to get into that routine,” Murray said.
“If I stay fit and healthy, I’m not worried so much about ranking. I want to be winning matches and competing against the best players and that will build my fitness up quicker than anything I could do in the gym. So that’s my goal between now and the end of the year and hopefully it’ll mean I’ll be ready to start the 2019 season really well.”
Murray will play MacKenzie McDonald in the first round of the Citi Open. McDonald recently reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in what was his best ever grand slam performance. The winner of that match will go on to play fourth seed Edmund.