Murray Named 2019 Comeback Player Of The Year

Andy Murray has been named the Comeback Player of the Year in the 2019 ATP Awards. As voted by fellow players, this honour goes to the individual who has overcome injury in re-establishing himself as one of the top players on the ATP Tour.

“Thanks so much to all the players who voted! ??” Murray posted on Instagram. “Was a tricky couple of years and I appreciate all of your support.. See you in the new year ?”

The former World No. 1 had missed the second half of the 2017 season and been limited to six tournaments in 2018 due to chronic hip problems. By the Australian Open, an emotional Murray questioned retirement.

“I’ve been in a lot of pain for probably about 20 months now… I told [my team] I can’t keep doing this. That I needed to have an end point because I was just playing with no idea of when the pain was going to stop,” said Murray. He hoped to make it through to Wimbledon, but said following a memorable fight-back against Roberto Bautista Agut in Melbourne, “If today was my last match, look, it was a brilliant way to finish.”

Two weeks later, Murray underwent hip resurfacing surgery. Five months following the procedure, he was back in tour-level action and teamed up with Feliciano Lopez to clinch the doubles title at the Fever-Tree Championships. He made another step forward in his comeback as he made his singles return in August at the Western & Southern Open (l. to Gasquet), and continued to gain confidence by winning matches at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Mallorca and at each of his three stops during the Asian swing, including a quarter-final run at the China Open (l. to Thiem).

To cap off his 2019 ATP Tour campaign, the 32-year-old Brit triumphed over Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the European Open in Antwerp to win his first singles title since 2017 in Dubai. “It means a lot. The past few years have been extremely difficult… I think it was a great match,” Murray said on court after his victory. “I didn’t expect to be in this position at all, so I’m very happy.”

Andrey Rublev, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Wawrinka were the other nominees for Comeback Player of the Year.