Former world No.1 doubles player Jamie Murray admits that there is still a sense of uncertainty surrounding the comeback of his brother Andy to the ATP Tour.
The 34-year-old has revealed that he and his brother are hoping that they will be able to join forces at Wimbledon one year before one of them retires from the sport. Jamie is just a year older than Andy. The two have never played together in a grand slam before. Their last last tournament played was at the 2019 Washington Open.
“We don’t know what will happen with Andy’s hip but we hope he’s going to get back fit and healthy and get back on to the court,” Jamie told the Scotsman.
“I haven’t seen him for a while – this break will give us the chance to catch up – but I know he’s been practising which is good news.
“We’ve always said we wanted to play Wimbledon one time together before we stop and hopefully we’ll get that chance.”
Three-time grand slam champion Andy hasn’t played a competitive match since the Davis Cup finals last November. He has been sidelined from the tour due to what was initially thought to be pelvic bruising. Although it is now believed that the discomfort he has been experiencing in the groin area is related to soft tissue growing around his metal hip. The medical term is called heterotopic ossification, which is defined as an abnormal growth of bone in the non-skeletal tissues.
It is the latest blow for the injury-stricken player, who has also undergone two surgeries on his hip in a bid to prolong his career. In a recent interview with Amazon prime, Andy admitted that he was ‘thinking the worst’ with the prospect of being forced to go under the knife once again. At present this is not the case with the Brit currently continuing his rehabilitation.
“It’s been difficult, the emotional ups and downs of just not knowing what’s going on and then being given potential worst case scenarios and thinking this might be it.” He said.
“You go into scans thinking if you get the wrong news from this then it’s done. So it’s hard from that respect, but thankfully that’s been really good.
“I’ve been practicing on these courts the last couple of weeks and been feeling quite well. Practiced two, two-and-a-half hours some days and it’s [the injury] has been responding well so fingers crossed it stays that way.”
"The emotional ups and downs have been difficult"@andy_murray discusses his remarkable comeback and how he still lives on a knife edge knowing one bad scan could be it pic.twitter.com/mNHG05fZLd
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) March 23, 2020
Former top five player Tim Henman recently watched Andy in action during a training session. Describing his play as ‘hitting the ball well’ before adding that he is ‘building up his strength all the time.’ Andy has won 46 ATP titles and spent 41 consecutive weeks as world No.1
Due to the suspension of the tour, it is unclear as to when either of the Murray brothers will be returning to action. This year’s Wimbledon Championships are also in doubt due to the Covid-19 pandemic with a final decision on the event being played set to be made next month.
