ANDY Murray has revealed that he will be a mellower, less winning-obsessed figure if he ever makes it back onto the main tour again, writes Stewart Fisher. Speaking in an in-depth interview with his former coach Mark Petchey for Amazon Prime, the three-times Grand Slam singles champion admitted that the four-month injury lay off after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery in January has made him re-think his priorities. Making his first tentative steps back to competitive tennis with an entry alongside Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the doubles event at the upcoming Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club, Andy plans to enjoy his life more and see more of the different cities where the tennis tour takes him in the event that his body allows him to return full-time to singles.
“There are certain things that as you get older, particularly what I have been through the last few years, it isn’t about winning all the time,” said Murray. “It is about giving your best efforts. I couldn’t have given more that day [against Roberto Bautista-Agut in Australia]. I was in bits for days and days after that match.
“If I do come back, I am going to have a very different perspective on things for sure than I have had for most of my career,” he added. “I would want to enjoy it a lot more than what I did, experience different things. Not just concentrate on the winning and stuff, that is what I was basing success on, but I realise now that isn’t the most important thing. It has taken quite a lot of years of playing the sport and going through a lot of ups and downs to realise that.”
Other revelations from a wide ranging interview include the fact that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal have made regular check-ups on his progress since he shocked the world by announcing at the Australian Open that he may never play again.
“It [the support I have had from other players] has been nice,” said Murray. “Obviously in Australia it was a tough time for me because I didn’t know what the outcome of anything would be. There would be a genuine feeling that I might not be playing again at that stage and a lot of players were very supportive at what for me was a very difficult time, emotionally, mentally.
“Since then there have been a few players who have reached out from time to time, seeing how I am get on. I’ve always been at arms’ length with a lot of players, I am not massively close to a lot of players in the locker room, there’s a few who I am very close with.
“I’ve had a couple of messages from Federer, he messaged me a couple of times, [Stan] Wawrinka a couple of times, Rafa once or twice,” he added. “Then a lot of the British players as well, who I have also seen around when I started hitting or rehabbing at Roehampton or Wimbledon. But I’ve just been doing my own thing, with friends and family and teammates.”
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