Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray says his recent battles on the Tour have given him more belief in his physical fitness than ever before as he aims to climb up the rankings.
The former world No.1 has endured some marathon encounters this season with two of those occurring at the Australian Open where he came back from two sets down to win. In the first round, he knocked out 13th seed Matteo Berrettini after fending off match points. Then in the second round, he defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis after five hours and 45 minutes of play in what was the longest match of his career.
Murray’s latest roller-coaster tussle occurred on Monday at the Qatar Open in Doha where he saved two match points before ousting Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4), after two-and-a-half hours of play.
“I have trained really well since Melbourne. I pushed myself physically really hard since the end of last season. I saw the benefits of that in Australia and the matches that I played,” Murray said following his latest win.
“The fact that I was able to play for nearly five hours against Berrettini and then physically was able to manage another really long match afterwards has given me a lot more belief in my body, maybe more than I have had at any stage in my career. It’s because I have not had many of those experiences of playing four hours and 50 minutes and then playing another really long match afterwards.”
The 35-year-old has endured his fair share of injury issues since 2017 after undergoing two operations on his hip and now plays with a metal rod inserted into his joint. Just a couple of years ago the Brit contemplated retiring from the sport due to the severity of the pain he felt.
Now with those woes behind him, Murray is aiming to return to the top of the men’s Tour once again. Recently he has dropped 20 places to 70th in the world and he hasn’t been inside the world’s top 30 since April 2018.
His next test in Doha will be against Alexander Zverev who is himself on the comeback from injury after missing six months of the Tour due to an ankle problem. Zverev has won two out of four matches played so far this season.
“I don’t believe I’m in the best shape of my career. I just gained a lot of confidence from what happened in Australia, more than at any other moment in my career,” Murray explains.
“Like just from a physical perspective because of what I was able to do there. I’m sure when I was 25, 26 that physically I would have been better than I am now. Faster and moving better on the court. But what I did in Australia, it gave me lots of belief in the physical side, which the last four or five years I didn’t have.”
Murray has also shed some light on his plans for the upcoming clay season after only playing one tournament on the surface last year. As long as his body holds up, he intends to play in Madrid, Rome and at the French Open. He hasn’t played at Roland Garros since 2020 and hasn’t won a match there since reaching the semi-finals in 2017.
