Murray: ‘My Tennis Is Getting Better All The Time’

Coming back from injury is never easy, even for the best players in the world.

So while Andy Murray has enjoyed success at the US Open before, lifting his first Grand Slam trophy here in 2012, he knows not to dream too big quite yet. Murray did not play after Wimbledon in 2017, and then underwent hip surgery this January. After returning in June at the Fever-Tree Championships, this will be his fifth tournament back.

“My expectation is to give my best effort in the matches. Hopefully if I do that, my tennis will get better. Take each match at a time. It’s kind of difficult to predict how you’re going to do and say how far you’re going to go in the event,” Murray said. “My tennis is getting better all the time. Just need to be on the court more consistently through till the end of the year.”

After losing in the first round of the Western & Southern Open against Lucas Pouille, Murray spent time in Philadelphia to work on his physical fitness before arriving in New York earlier this week to prepare for the campaign’s final Grand Slam.

“It’s been good. It’s been difficult. My tennis has been a bit of stop-starty because after Washington, I took a few days off the court, then built back up again. Then obviously sort of light practising last week,” Murray said. “My body feels better than it did a few weeks ago, so that’s positive. Just being around these players and practising with them more and more on a more consistent basis is going to help me improve.”

This will be the former World No. 1’s first best-of-five-set event in his comeback. But he has played plenty of long matches, with his past four clashes going to a decider.

“I played some long matches in Washington. They were all over two-and-a-half hours, and a three-hour match. Three of them in four days,” Murray said. “The benefit of the Slams is having that day off to recover in between, which will help me.”

Murray is not the only player on the comeback trail. Recent Western & Southern Open champion Novak Djokovic underwent right elbow surgery after the Australian Open, and Stan Wawrinka is continuing to improve after two left knee surgeries last season. Djokovic is already back inside the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings, and Wawrinka pushed the Top 2 players in the world, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, in Toronto and Cincinnati, respectively.

“All injuries are completely different. Some are more serious than others. Someone is out for a few weeks with a muscle injury, it’s very different to somebody recovering from a surgery on certain parts of the body. It’s notoriously more difficult,” Murray said. “I do feel that once my body is right again, which takes time when you haven’t played many matches in a year, I’m sure that my level will be okay to get me competing at the top of the game again.”

And perhaps this is the place for Murray to remind the world what he’s capable of. He won the Boys’ Singles title here in 2004, reached his first major final in 2008 and then earned his maiden major in 2012.

“I have great memories from New York overall from juniors to my first Slam final to then obviously winning my first Grand Slam here. So, yeah, I’ve got lots of great memories,” Murray said. “I’m happy that I’m able to be back competing again here. It was tough missing it last year. I was pretty upset at the time. Yeah, really, really pleased to be back. I’ll try to enjoy it as much as I can.”

And in a way, that’s what this whole comeback boils down to. Murray is trying to take it all in and get as much out of himself as he can as he continues his climb back toward the top of the sport.

“Maybe that’s something to appreciate more while you’ve been away from the game,” Murray said. “It’s been nice. I do want to make sure I make the most of the next few years because you never know exactly what’s around the corner. Obviously 12 months, 14 months ago, I wouldn’t have anticipated what was about to happen.”

But now, Murray is back. And he begins his US Open campaign against Aussie James Duckworth on Monday.