Andy Murray believes he is still capable of playing at a level which could take him into the second week of a Grand Slam but it all depends on if his body will allow him to do so.
The three-time Grand Slam champion has already vowed to play at the upcoming Wimbledon Champions like it was the last in his career. Although he is hoping that this will not be the case. In the lead up to the major, Murray reached the second round at Queen’s before losing to top seed Mateo Berrettini. Since then, he has had the luxury of training with some of the sport’s top names, including Roger Federer.
“I thought he looked good,” the Swiss maestro commented on Murray. “To be honest, you can see how comfortable he is on the grass. Clearly it’s just practice, we’re trying things. But I hope he can go deep here, have a nice run.”
Whilst there is praise from one of his peers, a straight talking Murray is the first to admit he faces a tough road ahead. Whilst relishing in his practice session, he admits those results ‘are not that important’ when looking at the bigger picture. On the other hand, he has been given a confidence boost.
“The way that I’ve been performing in my practices with top players, I’m not going out there and getting whacked. I’m competing well with all of the players that I practiced with,” he assessed. “That’s the really positive thing for me. That’s one of the reasons why I’m sure that if my body holds up that I can do well and compete with these guys on the biggest stages.”
It has been a turbulent journey for the 34-year-old who has spent 41 weeks as world No.1. A serious hip injury, which required two surgeries, almost forced him into retirement a couple years ago. Now playing on the Tour with a metal hip, Murray continued to have misfortunes when it comes to injury. His most recent setback occurred earlier this year when a ‘freak’ groin injury sidelined him for a few weeks.
After his misfortunes, Murray is just relieved to be playing at Wimbledon once again. It will be the first time he has played in the singles draw since 2017 where his hip problem started to seriously trouble him. Murray remains the only British man in the Open Era to have won the title after triumphing in 2013 and 2016.
“I miss being on Centre Court, things like that. I miss the pressure of that, as well,” he explained.
“Six, seven years ago, I didn’t fear that pressure but it was something that, like, I stressed quite a lot about. Whereas actually when I reflect on the last few years it’s actually something I’ve really missed, playing in front of a big crowd on Centre Court.”
“I’m looking forward to feeling that pressure (again). I’m not anxious about going out there to perform. I just want to go do it.”
In his first round match Murray will play Georgian world No.28 Nikoloz Basilashvili who recently made the semi-finals of Halle. Last year Basilashvili was accused of domestic violence during what was a high-profile court case in his home country but denies the allegations. There is currently no specific domestic abuse policy on the ATP Tour that deals with circumstances where a player has been accused of incidents such at this. Something Murray wants to be changed.
“For me there should be protocols and a process in place when allegations like this are made, which I don’t know exactly what those processes are exactly. From what I’ve heard, they’re not great. That’s something that the ATP, the governing bodies, the ITF, the slams should be looking to implement in my opinion,” he concluded.