After more than three months of absence, the Scottish tennis player Andy Murray returned to competition this Tuesday in the tournament Queen’s with a resounding victory against the French Benoit Pair, whom he defeated in two sets, 6-3 and 6-2. The one who was world number 1, 34 years old, He has only played two tournaments this season due to hip problems that have affected him in recent seasons and that even led him to consider retirement.
In Rotterdam, Murray (current ranking number 124) had lost to Russian Andrey Rublev on March 3 and since then only played the doubles tournament in Rome, in May, alongside Spanish Feliciano López.
“My body is old, but today I played quite well in terms of movements”He declared after the game, the first he had played on grass for three years. “I have only played two or three sets in training to prepare for this tournament. I didn’t know exactly how I was going to play or how I would feel, but for a first match it’s pretty good, “added the double Wimbledon champion (2013 and 2016) and current Olympic champion.
“I love to play tennis”He said excitedly just before his throat closed and he apologized for not being able to continue speaking. The public then cheered him and the Scotsman was able to say a few more words: “Obviously you work hard to compete and in recent years I have not done as I would have liked, but it is great to be here and be able to compete again”
In January 2019, Murray underwent a second hip operation due to pain in the area. In November of that same year, he revealed that he had suffered depression after coming out of the operating room, so this return was special. “It was a really difficult period for me because it was not so much the injury itself. Being injured can be frustrating, but the problem I had was with myself every day, sleeping and walking ”, the Briton had commented in an interview with The Times.
Murray has won the Queen’s tournament five times in the past, which traditionally serves to prepare for Wimbledon, and in the second round he will play against the first seed of the tournament, the Italian Matteo Berrettini, one of the fittest players on the circuit and recent quarterfinalist in Roland Garros.
In addition to Berrettini, also qualified for the second round three of the main seeds, the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the Australian Alex de Miñaur and the British Daniel Evans. The tournament is one of the preparatory to Wimbledon, is played on grass and distributes $ 1,730,000 in prizes.
It will be a year since the talented British tennis player Andy Murray underwent hip reconstruction surgery to put an end to the intense pains that haunted him for a long time.
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With information from AFP
