EXCLUSIVE: Andy Murray faces toughest ever challenge but he can return to top, says Greg Rusedski

ATP Tour

Tennis365
November 30, 2018

Greg Rusedski believes it will be ‘a long road back’ for Andy Murray as he aims to make a return to the top of the game after 18-months of injury agony for the former Wimbledon champion.

Murray had hip surgery in January as he tried to solve a long-running problem that also affected his 2017 season, with Rusedski exclusively telling tennis365.com that the Scot will need to beat the odds to make it back to the top of the game.

“He has been away from the game for a long, long time and that makes it tough to come back to the levels we got used to seeing from him,” Rusedski told us.

“For Andy to be successful, he needs to be able to play week after week, build momentum once again and if he can do that in 2019, maybe he can be a threat at the top of the game once again.

“You look at a player like Stan Wawrinka coming back after knee surgery this year and he has had some big wins, but the consistency has not been there and that’s because he cannot play at the level he wants to week-in, week-out.

“Andy has not played too many games since Wimbledon 2017 and it will be a long road back for him, but he deserves to do whatever he likes after what has been an amazing career and we know he will be fighting to get back to peak fitness for next year.”

Rusedski had hip problems of his own at the back end of his playing career and admits the injury problems Murray has suffered over the course of his career are now affecting his hopes of returning to the heights that saw him win three-Grand Slam titles and two Olympic gold medals.

“It’s the combination of injuries that he has suffered over the course of his career,” adds Rusedski.

“As a tennis player, you are rarely dealing with one injury problem. He has had other problems that have affected him with his ankles also a long-running issue and he has this genetic knee problem he has had to manage, so it is a question of finding a solution that will work for him.

Andy Murray celebrates after win

“It will be tough, but we know Andy has a fantastic winning mentality and he will do everything he can to get back to the top. Everyone in tennis wishes him well.”

Murray is currently in the midst of his pre-season training block after a recent holiday in the Maldives and offered up this update for his fans earlier this month.

“I’m feeling physically a little bit better every day,” he said. “It’s obviously been a tough year with the hip injury and the surgery, but I’m getting closer. I’ve been practising already for a few days and I’ve still got a couple of months to get myself in the best shape.

“I’ll be doing my off-season training in Miami. I’ve spent four or five weeks over in Philadelphia doing a lot of off-court training. Then in December I’m going to get to Miami and do three or four weeks of training in the hot conditions there and spending a lot more time in the hot conditions there to get myself ready.”