Murray aiming for 'deep run' at Wimbledon on tenth anniversary of first triumph

Andy Murray already has one eye on this summer’s Wimbledon as he targets a “deep run” on the tenth anniversary of his first triumph there.

The 35-year-old Scot famously won the competition in 2013 before making it a double in 2016 as he cemented his place as one of the UK’s most successful sports star of a generation.

He also won the US Open in 2012 and two Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016.

His honours are even more remarkable considering they were won in an era when he was up against the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Sheer delight after clinching a straight sets victory over Novak Djokovic to win his first Wimbledon title ten years ago. SNS Group

A hip injury in 2019 seemed to signal an end to his grand slam career.

But a recent resurgence, including two epic comeback wins at the Australia Open, has shown there is still some top class tennis left in the former world number 1 and he believes playing in grass will suit his game as he refuses to rule out a return to form in London.

Murray said he hopes that by being more mindful of what he puts his body through, he will be in optimal condition by the time the summer tournament comes around.

His goal is to work his way up from number 52 in the world into the top 32, thereby securing seeding at future grand slams.

He said: “This is allowing me to be in much better shape.

“I know exactly when I go on the court, how much time I’m going to spend on it and which drills and exercises I do are going to get me to certain heart-rate zones.

“Rather than just blasting yourself twice, once on the court and once in the gym, sometimes I only need to do it on the court if I’m getting the right stimulus from the tennis session.

“My feeling on Wimbledon is that less players play well on grass. More of the guys are comfortable on the hard courts and that probably increases my chances.

“I’m not saying I would expect to win the French Open (on clay) if I played, but with Wimbledon, there is certainly a better opportunity to have a deep run.

“Yes, I have some niggles and my body doesn’t feel amazing, but it’s coped really well with the first few tournaments of the year that have been really demanding.

“My belief is that my body would be fine to play seven five-set matches if needs be. Granted, if they are six-hour ones, probably not, but regular five-set matches, I’d be able to cope with that.”

In an interview with The Times he said he no longer overloads his body with intense training sessions, instead focusing more on fine details and analysing his workouts through data-tracking and admitted he has had to learn to be smarter and use more science in his preparations since 2019.

It was confirmed that he would not compete in the Dubai Tennis Championship following a gruelling run to the final of the Qatar Open last week where he played almost 12 hours of tennis en route to finishing runner-up to Daniil Medvedev in Doha.

It is understood that the withdrawal from the tournament, which began on Monday, is precautionary and not directly related to issues with the joint, which he had resurfaced three years ago.

He said: “The matches I had last week were physically pretty demanding.

“It was five matches in six days — the last time I did that was in Stuttgart (in June) but because of the surface (grass), the matches were physically really not that challenging.

“I had an issue then with my abdominal muscle and on Friday evening in Doha I was feeling my abs a little bit after the semi-final.

“Because of the experience I had last year, it was clearly a load-related thing because of the amount of tennis I played in a short period, so I was a bit worried about that.

“There’s a little bit more of a science to my training and how much I should be putting my body through. Obviously, last week was extreme.”