Patrick Mouratoglou has praised Andy Murray for his courage as the Brit decided to focus on the grass court season.
The former world number one has only completed three tour-level singles matches all season with injury, COVID and being a father to a fourth child all playing its part.
After playing doubles with Liam Broady in Rome, Murray ultimately decided against playing Roland Garros and is now preparing for the grass court season.
Ahead of Ultimate Tennis Showdown 4 Mouratoglou praised the three-time grand slam champion for prolonging his career and believed he can return to the level of the past, “I think he can. I think he wants to,” Mouratoglou told Sky Sports.
“I think he’s an incredible champion, but I also think that his body is really tough on him. Every time he feels ‘wow, finally, I can start playing’ then he has bad news about his physicality which stops him.
“If he continues to stop and start all the time, it’s very difficult because he makes progress and his fitness starts to be at a level. He needs competition. He starts, but then ‘boom’, he stops again and then he restarts almost from scratch because when you do nothing for a few weeks you lose all the benefit of what you’ve done.
“I think he’s incredibly courageous to be honest, because he’s had a lot of setbacks with his body and he’s still here. He shows how much courage he has, which we knew already, but also how much he loves the game.”
There is no doubting Murray’s determination and courage but can the Brit sustain his fitness and intensity for long enough to have one more grand slam run in him? Time will tell however the decision to not play Roland Garros may just be a great decision for the long run.
Murray will hope to play in Nottingham on the 5th of June before playing Queen’s Club on the 14th of June and then Wimbledon on the 28th of June.
As for Mouratoglou he is hosting the fourth edition of Ultimate Tennis Showdown which will take place on the 24th and 25th May with the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Diego Schwartzman, Fabio Fognini and Grigor Dimitrov participating.
Then the Frenchman will head to Roland Garros to coach Serena Williams with the second grand slam of the year taking place on the 30th of May.
