Andy Murray will return to French Open action in confident mood on Sunday as he continues to gain belief that he will be able to resurrect his top-level player. Murray, the three-time Grand Slam champion from Dunblane, will take on Stan Wawrinka in the final match of the day on Philippe-Chatrier – Roland Garros’ main show court – in his first match on the clay courts of Paris since 2017.
His opponent on his last appearance is the same as the Swiss three-time major winner he will face this weekend. On that day, Murray was beaten in five sets in the semi-finals in a match that became the beginning of the end for the former world No. 1’s time in the upper echelons of men’s tennis.
After 18 months of false starts, a hip resurfacing operation a year-and-a-half ago has injected new life into the Murray machine and the man with a metal hip defeated Wawrinka in Antwerp to win his first ATP title last October.
Niggles and the coronavirus pandemic have forced Murray to remain patient as his career continued to stall but there were signs of encouragement on a trip to the States that saw him beat German world No. 7, and eventual US Open finalist, Alexander Zverev in the Western & Southern Open before recovering from two sets down in a vintage Murray comeback in the first round of New York’s hard court Grand Slam. (Metro)