Andy Murray to undergo sweat testing for cramping woes ahead of US Open – ‘I need some answers’

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Andy Murray in action

Andy Murray is determined to get to the bottom of his cramping problems and has decided to undergo sweat testing ahead of the US Open as he admits the issue is “frustrating”.

The former world No 1 kicked off his North American hard-court swing with a run to the quarter-final of the Hall of Fame Open in mid-July, but things have gone downhill since then.

He lost in first round at both the Citi Open and Canadian Open and revealed afterwards that he struggled with cramp. He then beat Stan Wawrinka in a marathon three-setter in the first round of last week’s Western & Southern Open before going down against Cameron Norrie, but again had cramping problems.

Murray admitted that it was a “big concern” and he even changed his training schedule in an attempt to solve the problem, but it didn’t work, hence him trying something different.

Andy Murray ‘disappointed’ with defeat as he admits he needs to make tweaks to training

“I’m doing sweat testing in these conditions to see if anything has changed in that respect because the sports drinks and the electrolytes is made specifically on my sweat tests, but I haven’t done sweat testing for quite a number of years.

“I don’t know if anything has changed in that respect but we’ll try and get to the bottom of it, because let’s say if it was purely from hydration, then obviously after I got cramp like in Washington I made sure that I was not dehydrated going into the next matches. And if it was eating related then I made sure all of those boxes were ticked.

“It’s not just been as simple as changing how much I’ve been drinking or what I’m drinking so I need to get some answers.”

After pulling out of the Queen’s Club Championships in June due to an abdominal injury, Murray has not had too many injury-related injuries, which makes his fitness woes even more infuriating.

“From the physical side it’s been a bit frustrating right now because I’ve been pulling up from the matches really well in terms of where my body is today in comparison to last year, for example. I’m in a much better place in terms of how my left groin has been and my lower back – it’s been really good,” the three-time Grand Slam winner said.

“There’s been no need for me to take anti-inflammatories for matches and tournaments and stuff which hasn’t been the case much for the last few years so that’s been really positive but then at the same time I’ve had the cramping.

“Since I’ve been over here I’ve been lucky in some of the matches, like against [Stan] Wawrinka I was lucky to get through that one.

“Against Mikael [Ymer] in Washington it was not good because I could barely play in the third set and obviously what happened in the match against Cam [Norrie] in Cincinnati.

“Physically I feel pretty good in terms of discomfort and pain and everything but then I’ve been having the cramping the last few weeks so that’s been frustrating.

“I’ve had cramp before but not consistently so I’m just trying to understand and get to the bottom of that.”

Andy Murray

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