Andy Murray’s comeback after several false starts since a chronic hip injury cut him down at Wimbledon nearly a year ago remained stalled on Friday. After a solid workout with the British No2, Cam Norrie, the former world No1 agonised for hours about playing at the Fever Tree championships, which start on Monday at the Queen’s Club. I’m going to sleep on it,” he said later.
Murray said he would advise the organisers before the draw, but his procrastination has complicated the prospects of other players. While Dan Evans and Jay Clarke received wildcards late on Friday, if Murray pulls out before 11am on Saturday, the Frenchman Julien Benneteau would go into the main draw; if Murray leaves it until a ball has been hit in qualifying, a lucky loser will be added. Nobody is going to be happy with that.
Making every effort not to abort his fifth comeback in a row, Murray would not be rushed after hitting with Norrie on Friday in two sets. Norrie won the first, 6-3, and, after the media were ushered from the court, Murray hit back, 7-5.
Late withdrawals from the US Open, Brisbane, the Australian Open and Rosmalen this week have caused Murray concern. He is desperate to get the decision right. The Scot, a knight of the realm and father of two with widening business interests, turned 31 last month and remains in love with the game he has played all his life. But he needs to convince himself he has totally recovered from hip surgery in January.
On the morning of the operation in Melbourne, Murray told a small group of British journalists, “I want to come back when I’m fit and ready to play, not to get into a situation like in Brisbane or New York, where I’m unsure when I turn up at a tournament how fit I am. I want to know when I come back that I’m ready.”
Whether or not he tries again to get ready for Wimbledon by taking a wildcard at Eastbourne the week after next, or has a light hit at either of Boodles or the Hurlingham Club, remains unclear. However, there were signs of improvement on Friday.
Murray has retained his conditioning, looking slim and strong. He moved with more economy, his footwork now neat and measured rather than spectacular and carefree – and he had no limp. He hit cleanly and chased down a few short and wide balls well enough, struck his forehand on the run to good places and had his defensive backhand slice working to good effect.
Kyle Edmund, who has hit with him recently, said later, “If it’s three months or four months, it’s different - but a year is a while. Only he knows in terms of his body and so on. I’ve hit with him and I speak to him then, but I never ask how his hip’s been, because he’ll probably not want to answer it. We’re there just to hit and play tennis and talk football and stuff.”
Edmund admitted it was difficult to tell if Murray could return at Wimbledon without playing a warm-up tournament. “It’s always good to play tennis before a grand slam. You get match-fit physically and also in your head. You anticipate plays a lot better. When you play regularly, it’s, like, autopilot. It just happens.
“If you’ve taken a period out but you’re coming back from injury, it’s going to be tough. But only Andy knows what it’s going to be like.”
As for his own reckoning of Murray’s tennis, he said, “I was changing surface [from Roland Garros] to come on to the grass. We wanted to get hours in our legs, work on the fitness. He wasn’t playing set after set straight away, so we were drilling.
“It was very impressive to see him hit. He’s a proper tennis player and, even with time away, he still hits a very good ball, very clean. He’s a pure striker of the ball. That’s never disappeared. The thing, obviously, [that has changed] is the movement.”
Murray, a five-time winner at Queen’s, would be going up against a strong field in west London that includes slam champions Novak Djokovic – for the first time in eight years - Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic, as well as Edmund, Nick Kyrgios, Denis Shapovalov and Grigor Dimitrov, the reigning ATP World Tour Finals champion.
Late Friday, Juan Martín del Potro joined Rafael Nadal on the opt-out list. There are no hiding places in the modern game.
