Andy Murray has highlighted the next few days as ‘key’ in deciding whether or not he will be fit in time to play at Wimbledon.
The former world No.1 suffered a setback leading up to the Grand Slam after sustaining an abdominal injury during his clash with Matteo Berrettini in the final of the Stuttgart Open earlier this month. Stuttgart was the first Tour final Murray had played in since 2019. During the match he started to move tentatively around the court and towards the closing stages he received two medical timeouts in the deciding set.
Providing an update on his current health on Monday, Murray says he is heading in the right direction but the injury has impacted on how he has been able to train.
“The next couple of days are pretty important for me,” The Guardian quoted Murray as saying. “Obviously the plan is still to play. The injury is improving. I’ve had it rescanned and it’s progressing in the right way. But you can probably work out from the nature of the injury which shots it is that I’ve been struggling with and haven’t been able to practise.
“In the next few days I’ll start to increase that and test it out. Hopefully it’s recovered sufficiently.”
Mureray is a two-time Wimbledon champion after lifting the title in 2013 and 2016. He is the only British man to have won the Grass-court major in the Open Era. However, due to a troublesome hip injury he has only been able to play singles at the tournament once since 2018. Last year he reached the third round before losing to Denis Shapovalov.
“Everyone that I trust and respect in terms of their opinions on my game and my movement were very happy with how that side of things was going and progressing,” Murray assures when speaking about his latest ailment. “It’s frustrating to be in this position in the buildup to Wimbledon, but I’ve been in worse situations in recent years. The positive for me is that I’ve dealt with certainly worse issues in the last few years and handled them OK.”
After opting to play one tournament during the clay swing, Murray has shown promising signs on the grass this season already. In Stuttgart he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to register his first win over a top five player since 2016. He followed up on that victory with a straight sets triumph over Australia’s Nick Kyrgios. The 35-year-old also reached the semi-finals of a Challenger tournament in Surbiton.
The hope for Murray now is that he will be able to build on the momentum he has generated on the grass. If his body allows him to do so.
“The injury that I have is not a significant injury but it’s an injury that is tricky for tennis players,” he explains. “You need to manage them well and do everything properly and respect it. I’ve done that so far. Hopefully that will pay dividends come Monday.”
Murray is currently ranked 51st in the world.
