Andy Murray: Can Scot follow in footsteps of rivals and return to summit of tennis after injury woes?

After six months out from the sport, the former world No 1 returns to competitive action this Wednesday

Andy Murray will make his hotly-anticipated return to tennis on Wednesday when he takes to the court at Queen’s. The Scottish icon has not played since featuring in the Australian Open in January and later underwent major hip surgery in a final attempt to consign his injury woes to the past. He will compete in a relatively unfamiliar format, partnering Feliciano Lopez in the doubles.

The choice of doubles was intended to ease Murray, 32, back into competitive action, although this has been somewhat undermined by a tough first-round draw against top seeds Robert Farah and Juan Sebastián Cabal. The Colombian pairing reached the semi-finals at the French Open, and crucially boast the match fitness that Murray is severely lacking. Spaniard Lopez is strong on grass, and Lucas Pouille needed a third-set tie-break to overcome him at the recent Stuttgart Open, but he has never previously partnered Murray.

The Briton’s prospects of a winning return are duly slim, but it is an achievement simply to have made a return to the sport. Murray was unsure whether he would ever be able to play on the ATP circuit again after electing to have the hip resurfacing surgery, to the point where he was shown a farewell video from fellow professionals following his 5-set defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut in Australia. The Queen’s Club appearance potentially paves the way for Murray to feature at Wimbledon, his home slam.

The marathon battle against Bautista Agut in Melbourne vividly demonstrated that Murray has not lost his trademark fighting spirit; if his hip issues are truly behind him, there is no reason why he might not be able to return to the top of the sport. There is no guarantee that the man once considered to form part of the ‘big four’, alongside Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, will even return to the singles game, with much hinging on how his body reacts in the less intensive doubles setting, but he has described himself as “pain-free” for the first time in years.

Ironically, a successful Queen’s Club return may prompt Murray to sit out Wimbledon this year to focus on a longer-term comeback, but while this may disappoint spectators in SW19 it can only be positive that talk of a return to the upper echelons of tennis is possible.

Murray can draw encouragement that such a comeback is not out of the question by looking to his long-term rivals. Nadal, one year his senior, has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, but has nonetheless been able to write his name in the history of the sport. He last month secured an unprecedented 12th Roland Garros title, cementing his status as the king of clay.

Nadal has admittedly suffered from a series of unrelated problems rather than any single recurring issue, but Murray is not alone in having required a major operation to tackle an ongoing injury. Roger Federer had arthroscopic surgery on his knee in 2016, and has had to carefully manage his workload since then, but triumphed at the 2018 Australian Open before briefly reclaiming the world No 1 spot. Even now, aged 37, the Swiss legend remains ranked third in the ATP rankings. He even returned to the French Open this year after a four-year absence, making it to the semi-finals.

Even so, it is far from certain that Murray will be able to recapture his unplayable top form. The closest point of comparison is US doubles player Bob Bryan, who once dominated the doubles scene along with his identical twin brother Mike. He required a complete hip replacement in the summer of last year, and despite making an admirable return the Bryan brothers are no longer the unstoppable force they once were. They followed up a quarter-final defeat in the Australian Open with a round of 16 loss in Paris. The brothers had been in decline even prior to Bob’s surgery and are admittedly now in their 40s, but the steel hip has undoubtedly proved to be a further obstacle. This perhaps suggests that a potential re-emergence of a prime Murray is something of a pipe dream, however eager the Wimbledon crowd are to see it should he take to the grass courts in July.

Regardless, fans should be content simply to see Murray happy and healthy once more. Success on the court would be a bonus, but the greatest Briton to play the sport in modern history has more than earned his retirement should his return not go as planned. For now, all focus is on Queen’s.