Andy Murray ready for Dubai after recovering from shingles

Andy Murray has recovered from a bout of shingles and says he is ready to return to action in Dubai this week.

Andy Murray practises in Dubai. Picture: Tom Dulat/Getty Images

The world No.1 will play doubles on Monday and is then due to play his first round singles tie on Tuesday against the unseeded Tunisian Mischa Zverev.

Murray has been inactive since losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open five weeks ago and was laid low for a couple of weeks.

“I’m fine now, I’ve been training flat-out for the past few weeks,” Murray said.

“I was a bit sick for 10 days, a couple of weeks, after I got back from Australia.

“I feel fresh and ready to go here. I had shingles. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great. I had to go easy for a little while, so I wasn’t able to push that hard in training when I got back into it.”

Murray said he was not sure if the illness had started developing while he was playing in Melbourne.

Shingles is an infection of a nerve and the skin around it. It’s caused by the same virus which causes chickenpox.

Murray is the top seed in Dubai in a field that also includes Roger Federer, playing in his first tournament since his stunning Australian Open victory at the age of 35 in Melbourne.

The Swiss is to due to play France’s Benoit Paire on Monday.

In the doubles, Murray will partner Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic against Britain’s Dan Evans and Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.