ANDY Murray is back practising on a tennis court and is still bidding to play tennis on the grass this summer. That was the good news from his mum Judy yesterday – just seven days after the former World No 1 is scheduled to make his long-awaited return from the hip operation he underwent in January at the Libema Open at Rosmalen in the Netherlands next week. Murray hasn’t played a single competitive match since limping off from his Wimbledon quarter final against Sam Querrey on Centre Court 11 months ago but is due to speak publicly on the matter for the first time in the next few days.
While he and his camp have remained adamant throughout about targeting a return for the grass courts in the build up to Wimbledon, there have been gloomy noises about whether he would be ready after he took a step back in his training during April and decided against taking a wild card into last month’s low key LTA events in Glasgow and Loughborough.
“He's doing the rehabilitation, he's been back on the court in the last couple of days,” said Judy, in an interview with BBC Sport.
“He is not a stranger to rehabilitation and this one has taken longer than anyone probably expected and certainly longer than he would have liked,” she added. “It has been incredibly frustrating for him and his team and you have to develop resilience. Fortunately he is very resilient, always working really hard and doing what he has to do.
“He knows what he still wants to achieve in the game. He is getting closer to where he wants to be and you will all hear from him in the next couple of days. His goal was always to try and be ready for the grass-court season and that is still his goal, so fingers crossed.”
Considering the length of the lay-off, Judy was correct to strike a note of caution about the time it could take the player to return to his best. Expecting him to contend for the title immediately at Wimbledon would seem a tall order, considering his lack of preparation compared to fellow superstars of the sport such as Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic.
“Any player who has been out injured, it takes you a bit of time to get back to top form,” said Judy. “When he had his back surgery in 2013 he was back playing within three months, but it took him the best part of a year to get back to his top form.
“You need matches to build up your match fitness. You are not going to come back and start where you left off. He is the only person who knows how he feels.
“The most important thing is he gets fit again for the long term and any top athlete would tell you they would not come back until they felt they could give 100%, especially in a major like Wimbledon.”
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