Andy Murray ended a poor run on the ATP Tour’s Asian swing but he is prepared to return to the court in an effort to finish up his difficult year on a strong note.
Following a disastrous journey to China that ended with a 6-3 6-2 first-round loss to Roman Safiullin in Shanghai, Murray withdrew from this week’s Japan Open in Tokyo earlier this month due to injury.
Alex De Minaur also defeated Murray in a closer contest at the China Open, but how he lost that match raised red flags for him.
Despite the fact that Grigor Dimitrov, a Bulgarian player who advanced to the Shanghai Masters semifinal last week, has subsequently established himself as one of the ATP Tour’s best players, those losses followed Murray’s costly US Open exit.
Murray said in an interview: “I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level. I enjoy the work. The training and trying to improve and trying to get better, I do still enjoy that. And that’s what keeps me going.”
He added: “If things change and I stop enjoying that or my results, my ranking and everything; like, if I start to go backward in that respect and in a few months’ time I was ranked 60 in the world or whatever instead of moving up, things might change.”
Andy Murray in 2023
Ranked no.39, Murray played his last match on the 4th of October when he was overcome by world no.42 Roman Safiullin 6-3 6-2 in the 1st round in Shanghai (draw).
Until now, during this year Andy owns a compiled 30-16 match record. The Brit conquered 3 titles in 2023 in the Aix En Provence Challenger, the Surbiton Challenger and the Nottingham Challenger. The Brit reached the final in Doha.
He is also scheduled to play in Paris (Rolex Paris Masters) after Basel. The main draw will start on the 23rd of October.