Former world No.1 Andy Murray has revealed the next stage of his comeback to professional tennis following hip resurfacing surgery.
The Brit will return to the court’s next week to play at the Citi Open in Washington. In what will be only his fourth tournament since his second hip operation, Murray is set to play in the doubles alongside brother Jamie. It will be the first time the two have played together on the ATP Tour since the 2016 Olympic Games.
News of Murray’s return to Washington has been confirmed by The New York Times. The 32-year-old is currently focusing solely on the doubles and is yet to announce a date as to when he will return to singles competition. During the Wimbledon Championships, Murray said that he didn’t want to rush things in case he gets injured again.
“They called us and said Andy really wanted to come back to D.C., and wanted to play doubles with his brother,” Citi Open tournament director Mark Ein told The New York Times. “We’re putting a real focus on doubles at the event — it’s a terrific piece of the competition and entertainment value for fans — so we were thrilled he wanted to return.”
The decision of the three-time grand slam champion to play in Washington has surprised some following comments he previously made about the tournament. Last year in a question and answer session on his Instagram account, Murray said it was unlikely that he would play there after the tournament director ‘rinsed him.’
Keely O’Brien criticised the two-time Olympic champion after he said he may withdraw from the 2018 draw. Murray played a trio of three-set matches with the last ending at 3am. He was then expected to return to the court later in the day following the early morning encounter.
“I hope that Andy really takes into consideration this role in his sport,” O’Brien told The Washington Post, “and as a global role model to guys and girls on the tour and kids around the world that, when things are difficult and tough and the conditions aren’t great, it’s not O.K. to just give up.”
Murray did end up withdrawing from his quarter-final match against Alex de Minaur.
Since starting his latest comeback in June, Murray won one title at the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s.
https://twitter.com/JudyMurray/status/1153831629682630657
Another pairing set to make headlines in the double draw will be the team of Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who will play together for the first time. The unlikely pairing was first proposed by tournament director Ein who wants to help raise the profile of the draw.
“Since we took over,” he said, “thinking about highlighting doubles and creating compelling teams to come together has been a focus of ours.”
Kyrgios had previously mentioned that he would like to play alongside his more reserved Greek rival. He made those comments during his infamous podcast with No Challenges Remaining (NCR) earlier this year. It was during that podcast where he criticised a series of top names, including Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
“I would love to play doubles with him. But I’m like scared to talk to the guy because he’s so zoned in. I don’t want to be a bad influence.” He said
Kyrgios is yet to play Tsitsipas on the ATP Tour.
The Citi Open main draw will get underway on Monday.
