Andy Murray has hit a new milestone in his comeback. The three-time grand slam champion won the European Open in Antwerp, Belgium. He beat Stan Wawrinka, who just came back from an injury of his own. This was Murray’s first singles title since Dubai in 2017 and his first since his hip surgery in January.
Murray’s Near Retirement and Surgery
Back in January, Andy Murray announced the Australian Open would be Murray’s last tournament of his career. Murray was in constant pain and he did not have fun playing tennis anymore. It was an emotional exit for Murray after losing to Roberto Bautista Agut in five long grueling sets. On the court after that match, Murray vowed to get surgery and to try to come back and play again.
Murray ended up getting hip-resurfacing surgery done on January 29th. This same surgery was performed on Bob Bryan, a top men’s doubles player. Bryan worked his way back and is winning matches with his brother Mike Bryan. Bryan was a doubles player so the only question for Murray was getting back to singles play. Playing singles is more demanding on the hip as you have to run and cover more space on the court as compared to doubles.
Murray’s Return
Murray returned to the doubles courts for the Queen’s Club Championships in England. He teamed up with Feliciano Lopez and they went on to win the title. This set up Murray for a run at Wimbeldon. He participated in the men’s doubles with Pierre-Hugues Herbert and the mixed doubles with 23 time grand slam champion Serena Williams. Murray would lose in the second round of both tournaments.
Murray skipped the US Open as he did not feel prepared to do singles yet. His return to singles action would come at Winston-Salem where he would lose to Tennys Sandgren 7-6 7-5 in the first round. He made progress all the way through the summer and it led to his victory in Belgium against Stan Wawrinka.
What’s Next For Murray?
As of right now, Murray has no plans of playing anymore official matches for the rest of 2019. Murray’s next major tournament will be his return to grand slam play in singles at the Australian Open in January. It was recently announced that Andy Murray would compete in the ATP Cup in January as a warm up for the Australian Open.
Murray will also need to decide whether he will compete in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Right now, Murray says he is not in the shape to do both doubles and singles. The two time defending gold medal winner at the Olympics has a lot to decide on, but as for after the Australian Open, it is all up in the air for Andy Murray. Andy Murray’s comeback is impressive and he is back to playing and winning and it is great for men’s tennis.
