WIMBLEDON: Former world No.1 Andy Murray is set to return back to the practice courts after being knocked out of the Wimbledon championships on Wednesday.
Paired with Serena Williams in the mixed doubles, the duo crashed out 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to top seeds Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar in the third round. Wimbledon was Murray’s first taste of grand slam tennis since undergoing hip resurfacing surgery earlier this year. The Brit is currently focused on playing doubles and has recently played down the prospect of making a singles return at the upcoming US Open.
“I think they played quite a bit together and they were solid,” Murray said following his Wimbledon loss. “I think we were probably a little bit more up and down than them throughout. They were more consistent.”
It is unclear as to when Murray will return to action next and where it will be. On Wednesday the 32-year-old admitted that he was unsure about his plans in the coming weeks when it comes to playing. However, he is set to undergo a series of physical tests to see how his body is holding up.
“I think I’m doing some physical testing next week. I did some pre-Queen’s. It will be interesting to see what’s happened these last four weeks where I’ve been obviously playing tennis but doing not much training, to see how things have progressed or not.” He explained.
“I’ll kind of do sort of four to six weeks of training. Then I’ll have some testing done after that again. Hopefully, I will have progressed again. But I still got, like I said, quite a long way to go.”
The return of Murray to The All England Club has without a doubt been a hit. Providing a platform to promote the mixed doubles draw like never before. Raising questions about if more tournaments should provide the opportunity for the two genders to play together outside of the grand slams.
Dubbed ‘MuRena’ in the media, the question is will the Murray-Williams team play again in the future?
“We had so much fun. We aren’t ready for it to be over.” Said Williams. “But we both are obviously focused on our health, both of us actually, taking it literally one day at a time, seeing what happens from there.”
Whilst Murray is relishing his time in the doubles, it is the singles competition he is targeting. So far in his professional career, he has won 45 titles. Including 14 Masters trophies, three grand slams, and two Olympic gold medals.
Whenever he does begin a new stage of his comeback, it remains to be seed if there will be any changes made to his game style. Taking into account his recent injury misfortunes.
“You need to find the right way of playing that would be good for your body but also allows you to be competitive and win matches,” Murray commented in his press conference.
“I’ll only really know once I get back out there and start doing it. There are things I need to change, change and adapt.’
“From watching the bits that I have watched recently, I don’t feel like the game has changed a whole lot. Maybe when I get out there, it will have done.”
Murray also reached the second round of the Wimbledon men’s doubles tournament with Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
