Wimbledon 2019: Andy Murray never stopped believing he would play again, says father-in-law

When he revealed at the Australian Open in January that he was contemplating surgery Murray said it could spell the end of his career

Nigel Sears, Andy Murray’s father-in-law and the coach of world No 20 Anett Kontaveit, thinks that the Scot always believed he might be able to resume his career following the hip operation he underwent earlier this year.

When he revealed at the Australian Open in January that he was contemplating surgery Murray said it could spell the end of his career, but the former world No 1 returned to competition last month at the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club, where he partnered Feliciano Lopez to the doubles title. He is playing doubles here at Wimbledon with Pierre-Hugues Herbert and is keen to play in the mixed event.

“I think he always thought there was a chance he might play [again],” Sears said. “When in Australia people were saying it was the end of his career or whatever, he hesitated slightly, even in the interviews. He wasn’t saying: ‘No, I have retired.’

“He would say that he is going to have surgery and do this. I think in the back of his head he would think: ‘Right, how long will this take? When can I get back?’ Which is the best way to do that?’ It’s amazing. I am really, really happy for him.”

Sears added: “The thing I have always admired about him is that he doesn’t talk a lot about his success. There were times when I spoke with him, sometimes saying: ‘Don’t you think you deserve to look back on the things you have done at this point when your career is in jeopardy?’ Not for a moment did he think that.”

Although he described Murray’s triumph at Queen’s Club as “quite amazing”, Sears stressed that it had not surprised him.

“I know what he puts into the rehab,” Sears said. “I know what he puts into his training. I know how much it means to him. He will go to any lengths. I think he loves a challenge. If somebody says he cannot do something, it will make him twice as determined to do something.

“It was with a scratch partnership, with someone who got a wild card into the event, somebody who was playing hours and hours in the singles court as well. It was phenomenal. It’s an amazing thing, but at the same time he went there with the intent to win the tournament.”

Murray, who will play his first-round match here later this week with Herbert, is keen to return to singles competition and has even talked about the possibility of playing singles at the US Open later this summer.

Does Sears believe his son-in-law can make a successful comeback in singles? “It will be interesting to see how he comes up after matches, after consecutive tough matches, on hard courts,” Sears said. “There are a lot of factors there.

“No one knows, do they? That is the thing: it is totally different. But then again, nobody’s really tried. Surgery is better now than it used to be. Also, I know he will do whatever it takes to prepare every connected muscle, to do everything he can do to give himself the best chance of playing again. I think he’s going to give it a go, for sure.”

Murray says he is pondering two options after Wimbledon: putting his focus entirely on singles or continuing to play doubles as part of his rehabilitation programme.

“It has to be his call,” Sears said. “He’s always said he’ll discuss with his team. They will discuss it together, but I think he would have to think he can do it to play singles and I think he’ll look at it that way around. That will be his main goal. He’ll address that when he comes to it.

“But don’t forget he’s got the Olympics looming, with the opportunity to play with [his brother] Jamie. I think that would probably be a factor in terms of doubles as well, so this isn’t a bad investment getting ready for that.”

Andy Murray is back at Wimbledon in the doubles (Getty)

Herbert was knocked out of the singles here on the opening day, losing 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to Kevin Anderson, last year’s runner-up. The Frenchman revealed afterwards that he had had to curtail his previous day’s practice session because of a problem with his right thigh, but insisted he would be fit to partner Murray.

“Yesterday was a difficult day because after half an hour I stopped,” he said. “I have had problems with it. It made me miss two Davis Cup ties, in 2017 and 2018, and it was a bit bad at the start of the year. So it is sure that I panicked a bit. But after I got the scan results, which were positive, and then again this morning I could do the warm-up without any pain, it was all good.”

Herbert, who had not mentioned his problem to Murray, said he was feeling “more pressure than ever” going into the doubles. He added: “It’s something so special. I’m feeling lucky. I’m so motivated and pumped to play with Andy and to have the luck to play with him here in Wimbledon.I’m looking forward to that, but it’s for sure something new for me.”

Sears, who used to be head of women’s tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association, has been coaching Kontaveit since last summer. The 23-year-old Estonian, who had won only two of her previous eight matches going into Wimbledon, won here on Monday, beating Shelby Rogers 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 to earn a second-round meeting with Britain’s Heather Watson.

Does Sears believe his charge can do well at the All England Club? “She can,” he said. “She reached the third round last year. The thing is, the women’s tour has developed in depth. There are far fewer easy matches. There were times when seeded players would stroll through the opening rounds.

“This year Annett played three great tournaments – Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart – back-to-back and then ran into some great players who did extremely well on the day. After reaching the final in Stuttgart she had a very disappointing clay-court season but didn’t play that badly.

“That shows you what can happen. You can’t take anything for granted and it can be tough in the early rounds. You still have to perform and play to your best level most of the time.”