ANDY MURRAY has already been through the mill this year, with shingles, flu and an elbow injury derailing his start to 2017.
But with the elbow injury that has kept him off the Tour for a month finally behind him, Murray returns to competitive action this week on the clay courts of Monte Carlo, determined to make up for lost time.
A week ago, when he played Roger Federer in an exhibition in Zurich, Murray was not too confident, the elbow still limiting his ability to serve at full pelt.
But the wonders of the Cote D’Azur and a few extra days has allowed the elbow to heal and strengthen and having made a late decision to play, he says he is ready to go for the start of the clay-court season.
“I wasn't that optimistic after I played with Roger in Zurich,” he admitted. “I was serving probably 30 kilometres slower than I would like to.
“I was building it up a bit each day, trying to serve a little bit harder. It was a bit sore because I hadn't served that much. But actually each day it started to feel better.
“The last couple of days I've been serving pretty much close to the speed that I would normally. My elbow's reacted well, so feel good about it.”
The effort Murray put in to end last year ranked world No 1 for the first time in his career clearly took a big toll.
After losing in the fourth round at the Australian Open, he was diagnosed with shingles and though he won the title soon after in Dubai, he picked up the elbow injury in Indian Wells and missed Miami and the Davis Cup quarter-final against France.
With the benefit of hindsight, he might have taken more time off in the off-season but Murray said he was now feeling back to normal and ready to go.
“After the Aussie Open, I took a good enough break,” he said. “I felt absolutely fine through Dubai. Injuries happen. I've been lucky the last few years with it but it came at an important time of the year.
“But I feel fine now. I've got lots of tournaments coming up, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Murray, who is in the other half of the draw to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, will play either Gilles Muller, the world No 28 from Luxembourg, or the veteran Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, on Wednesday.
Kyle Edmund meets Dan Evans in round one today, with the winner to face Nadal.
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