Jamie Delgado has spoken regarding Andy Murray’s plans for the 2018 season. Delgado has, along with Ivan Lendl, been an integral part of Murray’s team in the last few years.
Delgado: “He’s been working very hard in his rehab and his practice. For sure, that’s the goal [to play in Brisbane], and we believe that he’ll get back to his best – 100 per cent.”
“He’s improving all the time which is all you can ask at this stage and obviously he will start to play matches, he’ll improve once he starts doing that as well.”
Murray has not played a competitive match since losing to Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. The Brit did play Roger Federer in a Glasgow exhibition last week, and has acted as a hitting partner for Dominic Thiem at the Nitto ATP Final this week.
Delgado also confirmed that Murray will play the Brisbane event. The tournament is considered a key warm-up event for many of the top players ahead of the Australian Open. Murray won the title in 2012 and 2013, with wins over Alexandr Dolgopolov and Grigor Dimitrov, but has usually opted to play in Doha instead in recent years.
Dimitrov is the current defending champion of the event, having defeated Kei Nishikori of Japan in a three set final way back in January. Dimitrov used the title as a springboard to his best ever finish at the Australian Open. The Bulgarian reached the semi-finals in Melbourne for the first time, taking eventual runner-up to a close five sets.
Delgado has a strong reputation as a coach since retiring from professional tennis. He had a successful spell working with Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller before working with Murray.
