Andy Murray to face Roger Federer in Glasgow charity event on return from hip injury

  • Posted: Nov 06, 2017

Andy Murray will give the first public indication of whether he has fully recovered from a hip injury when he takes on Roger Federer in a charity match in Glasgow on Tuesday.

The Briton, 30, last played on 12 July when he lost to American Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Murray was forced to withdraw on the eve of the US Open in August because the injury remained an issue.

He has dropped from first to 16th in the world rankings since Wimbledon.

The Scot will face Federer as part of the Andy Murray Live exhibition on Tuesday to raise funds for a variety of charities.

Murray will also team up with his brother Jamie to take on Tim Henman and Mansour Bahrami in a doubles match.

World number two Federer, 36, will be making his first appearance in Scotland as he prepares for next week’s ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Analysis

Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent

Murray may have fallen to his lowest world ranking since May 2008, but there seems to be an increasing, yet still cautious, optimism that he will be ready for his scheduled return in Brisbane in the first week of January.

Murray has not played a match since Wimbledon and after finally accepting he was in too much pain to contest the US Open, the 30-year-old has been keeping his cards very close to his chest.

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But in recent weeks, there has been a subtle change. His coach Jamie Delgado posted some footage of Murray rallying from the baseline a fortnight ago, and the young British player Jay Clarke posted a similar video on Instagram.

Murray has been practising regularly again, often on indoor courts owned by the All England Club, which is why this charity match against Federer will be watched far more closely than your average exhibition.

This will be the longest break from the ATP Tour of Murray’s career and, despite the advice he has received from numerous hip specialists in a number of time zones, it is just too early to assess whether the injury is going to plague him for the rest of his career.

The Australian Open draw in January will be stacked against him – as the world number 16, he would expect to play one of the top four seeds as early as the fourth round – but if he is free of pain in Melbourne, Murray will be more than happy with his lot.

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