Andy Murray hopeful of Wimbledon comeback

Andy Murray is currently out injured, but hopes to be fit for Wimbledon. Picture: Getty

Murray is sitting out the French Open, which started yesterday, in a bid to improve a long-standing back problem.

He announced he would miss Roland Garros a week after retiring injured from his clash with Marcel Granollers in Rome on 15 May but said at the time he was optimistic he would be fit enough to compete at SW19.

That remains the case but the world No 2 is facing a race against time with Wimbledon starting on 24 June.

Asked if he would be able to compete in the season’s third grand slam, Murray told ESPN: “That’s the plan. The grass is a bit easier on my back than the clay and I am hoping that Wimbledon is going to be fine. I am going to try to get myself ready to play at Queen’s (from 10 June) but I just have to wait and see.”

Having given his back complete rest, Murray has recently returned to the practice court but has been limited in what he can do. “I have been doing three hours of rehab and treatment every day to make sure it’s as good as possible for the grass court stretch but I still have a process I am going through to build up my training to see if I have any setbacks or not when I start to push a little bit more,” he said.

“I have hit some balls the last couple of days but I haven’t been doing any movement on the court yet. I did 15 minutes the first day, 20 minutes on the  second, I am just trying to build it up slowly.

“Hopefully, by the grass court season, I will be feeling better but it’s a process I need to be  patient through. It’s very easy standing in the middle of the court having a controlled practice session for 30 minutes, it’s another thing playing for four hours on a clay court or even a grass court when you are playing against the best players in the world. I have a long way to go before I am 100 per cent.”

Murray revealed he had been living with the back problem for some time. He added: “It’s been tough, it’s something I’ve been dealing with on and off for 18 months. It’s worse on certain surfaces and in certain conditions and when it flares up it’s tough to have it calm down.

“It has obviously been tough for me on the clay over the last couple of years. It’s just something I have been having to deal with the last little while and hopefully it will get better.”