After coming back from the verge of retirement at the Australian Open, three-time grand slam champion Andy Murray is enjoying his tennis again.
Alongside Feliciano Lopez at Queen’s Club, the Scot won his first doubles match since a career-saving hip operation six months ago and now has his sights set on success at Wimbledon.
Murray confirmed he would be partnering up with France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert at the grass-court major and was looking forward to the challenge.
Herbert has won all four grand slam doubles titles and, like Murray in the singles in 2016, clinched victory at Wimbledon that year, partnering with Nicolas Mahut.
“He (Herbert) had said to my coach he wasn’t going to be playing doubles at Wimbledon. He was going to concentrate on singles at the French Open and Wimbledon,” said Murray.
“And then, I can’t remember exactly how long, but a couple of weeks ago, [he] got in touch. I’m assuming he spoke with his team and thought it might be a nice thing to do.”
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Barty rejection
Despite having a good chance of success in the doubles, Murray is also looking to take part in the mixed doubles.
However, despite being a former world No. 1, finding a partner is proving difficult.
“I have spoken to a couple of players. I’ve been rejected a couple of times so far,” Murray joked.
“I asked singles players who had already committed to playing doubles, and they didn’t want to commit to playing in three events, which I completely understand because it’s a lot.
“If you have ambitions to go far in the singles, you maybe don’t want to commit to playing all three.”
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In his column for BBC Sport, Murray revealed newly-crowned French Open champion Ashleigh Barty was one of those women to reject his request, with the Australian opting to focus on the singles.
“Of course, I understood that,” wrote Murray. “It is a shame we can’t play together because I want the best partner possible.”
Murray’s presence at Wimbledon is somewhat of a bonus after the Scot seemed close to saying goodbye to tennis at the Australian Open in January.
He had been struggling to deal with ongoing pain from a long-standing hip problem but said he was now pain free for the first time in a long time.
“I have no pain in my hip any more. I was in pain for a long time,” he told CNN Sport in March.
