Andy Murray Returns This Week In Shenzhen, Will Skip European Indoor Season
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Andy Murray continues his comeback this week in Shenzhen. The former No. 1 has stated he will play this week and then next week in Beijing before ending his season, bypassing the European fall indoor season.
“I’m looking forward to playing in Shenzhen and Beijing,” Murray said on Facebook. “After that, I’ve decided to end my season to give me the preparation time I need to get ready for a strong 2019.”
“We are going to focus on some intense reconditioning, training blocks in the next couple of months with a view to being in the best possible shape for Australia in January. The last few months have been positive and, with the extra work over the coming months, I’ll be closer to playing at my highest level again.”
Murray, who is just 5-4 in his comeback, lost in the second round at the US Open.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been back, but yeah it’s kind of a similar-ish situation,” Murray said. “I’ve been playing a lot more in the build-up to Shenzhen, but it’s similar in some ways in that I’m not quite back to where I’d like to be yet, but kind of improving each week. Hopefully, I can play some good tennis and get on a bit of a run.”
But he’s slowly getting back to health.
“Probably 85 percent, 90 percent. That’s from a physical perspective,” Murray said. “I think I need matches and tournaments and also more time training where I’m feeling good so I can get a lot of practice on the court. This year for me has been a lot of starting, practicing, playing a couple of tournaments and then stopping, resting, rehabbing. Like after New York, I didn’t hit a ball for two weeks and I was doing a lot of training and conditioning.”
Murray won Shenzhen in 2014. He’s joined by defending champion David Goffin and youngsters Borna Coric, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alex De Minaur and Denis Shapovalov.
Murray opens against local wildcard Zhizhen Zhang tonight, with Goffin awaiting the winner in round two.
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