Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray has played down injury concerns looming over his head following his first round win at the Wimbledon Championships.
Murray recovered from a set down to defeat Australia’s James Duckworth 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, on Monday evening. Extending his perfect round of first round wins at the tournament to 14. The clash was the first Tour match he had played since the Stuttgart final where he sustained an abdominal injury.
Providing an update about his current fitness, Murray has confirmed that he received positive news about his health. Although the Brit is taking nothing for granted given his medical history, that includes two hip operations within as many years.
“It felt fine, to be honest. The last few days when I’ve been serving have been fine,” Murray replied when asked about his injury. “I went to get a scan, an ultrasound scan on it on Saturday after my practice just to see how it was progressing. It was all clear for the first time on the scans, which is really positive.”
“I wanted that kind of peace of mind to know that the injury has healed. Obviously, I still need to take precautions and still do some rehab and protect it when I can.”
Murray’s latest performance saw him hit a total of 16 aces as he won 85% of his first service points. Furthermore, he hit twice as many winners than unforced errors (35-14) and broke his opponent five times.
However, one of the talking points of the match was Murray’s decision to use an underarm serve during the third set. The technique is perfectly legal in tennis with it being more commonly used by the likes of Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik. However, some critics believe the method is disrespectful to others which is a view the former world No.1 doesn’t share.
“He (Duckworth) changed his return position. That’s why I did it. He was standing very close to return. He was struggling a little bit on the first-serve return, so he stepped probably two meters further back. As soon as I saw him step further back, I threw the underarm serve in,” Murray said of his tactics.
“I personally have no issue with players using it. I never have. Certainly, more and more players have started returning from further, further behind the baseline now to give themselves an advantage to return.”
It remains to be seen if Murray will use his underarm serve in his next match on Wednesday against John Isner in the second round. He holds a perfect 8-0 head-to-head record against the American but they haven’t played against each other since 2016.
“I played well against John in the past. I don’t think I’ve ever played him on grass before, so there will be different challenges,” Murray said of his upcoming meeting.
“He’s played well here before. He was very close to making the final a few years ago. I’ll need to play really well and certainly return a bit better than I did tonight if I want to get through that.”
Murray has won 60 main draw matches at Wimbledon.
