It is a case of wait and see concerning how high Andy Murray can rise again in men’s tennis, according to former British No.1 Tim Henman.
Murray is currently on the comeback from a career-saving hip resurfacing surgery, which he underwent earlier this year. Starting his return to professional tennis in June by focusing on doubles tournaments, he didn’t win his first singles match until this week. In the first round Murray scored his first ATP Tour win since January by defeating Tennys Sandgren in three sets.
Speaking about his compatriot, Henman believes it is Murray’s ‘hunger and desire’ that has aided his comeback to the tour. Praising his resilience after being on the brink of retirement at one stage. Nevertheless, he warns that it is still unclear as to what the future has in store.
“No one knows. He doesn’t know, his surgeons don’t know, his doctor doesn’t know, but he’s the one that’s going to try.” Henman told The Press Association.
“Certainly, knowing him as I do with his hunger and desire and motivation, if anyone can get back there I think it will be him, but it’s going to be a challenge.”
“No one has done this type of thing with the operations that he’s had and I think he needs probably another six to eight weeks of tournaments just to build up not only the strength but the confidence in his body.
“January next year we’ll probably get a clearer indication of where he’s at.”
Despite the warning, former world No.4 Henman has hailed Murray’s improvement. In recent months Murray has won a doubles title at the Fever-Tree Championships (Queen’s) with Feliciano Lopez and played in his first Challenger tournament for 14 years. A somewhat rollercoaster journey for the three-time grand slam champion.
“It’s the movement that’s the challenge and you see how much improvement there’s been on the doubles court at Queen’s and then playing doubles at Wimbledon and the challenger in Spain, he’s moving in the right direction.” Henman explained.
“It’s just how much more improvement is there going to be really? We don’t know.
“There are lots of people that have had new hips, but not at the age of 32 and who are then trying to play professional tennis, so we’ve just got to wait and see a little bit.”
Earlier this week, Murray told the AFP that it would be ‘silly’ and ‘naive’ to think that he could return back to his very best. During his career, he has won 45 ATP titles and spent 41 weeks as world No.1.
Currently ranked 413th in the world, Murray will return to action on Thursday. In the second round of the Zhuhai Championships, he will play seventh seed Alex de Minaur.
