Andy Murray is realistic about his chances of winning US Open after injury

Sandra Harwitt | Special to USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption World class chefs serve it up at the US Open World class chefs serve up high quality food at the US Open.

FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY — As one of the most prominent names in men’s tennis the past decade, Andy Murray is accustomed to being considered a candidate for victory at any Grand Slam.

This year, however, no one is anticipating the 31-year-old to leave the US Open, which starts Monday, as the champion. Not even Murray has that kind of high hopes, taking into account he’s on the comeback trail and is making his first Grand Slam appearance since Wimbledon 2017.

A right hip injury, which eventually required surgery in early January, kept the Scotsman off the courts for nearly 11 months. His return started during the grass court season in June, and has been nothing short of sporadic.

“These are the tournaments, like, for pretty much the last 10 or 11 years of my life I’ve dedicated all of my sort of training and off-seasons and stuff to prepare to perform well in these events,” said Murray, at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Friday.

“It feels slightly different, this one because, again, for the last 10 years or so I’ve been coming and trying to prepare to win the event, whereas I don’t feel like that’s realistic for me this year. It’s a slightly different mentality for me coming in than what I’ve had the last 10, 11 years of my life.

“That feels a bit odd.”

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Murray, a former world No. 1 who captured the first of his three Grand Slam titles at the 2012 US Open, will kick off this year’s Open by facing James Duckworth of Australia on Monday.

This marks the first time that Murray, who also won at Wimbledon in 2013 and ’16, is unseeded at a Grand Slam in 12 years.

Initially, Murray wasn’t sure how serious his injury was and had even journeyed to New York to compete at last year’s US Open before determining less than 48 hours out he would be unable to play.

In the end, his return came at the Queen’s Club tournament in London, in June, where he fell in the first round. He followed that appearance with a second-round showing at Eastbourne the following week. A determination that he was rushing his return prevailed and he withdrew less than 24 hours before the start of this year’s Wimbledon.

During the summer he enjoyed better progress by reaching the quarterfinals in Washington, D.C. Nevertheless, an arduous third-round outing that went to a third-set tiebreaker against Romanian Marius Copil left him overspent and unable to play his quarterfinal encounter against Australian Alex De Minaur.

In Cincinnati, he lost a first-round match against Frenchman Lucas Pouille and then spent some time in Philadelphia primarily doing gym work before heading to New York.

“My body feels better than it did a few weeks ago, so that’s positive,” Murray said. “Just being around these players and practicing with them more and more, on a more consistent basis, is going to help me improve.”

Just being back playing at the US Open for the first time since 2016 — the place he also won his only Grand Slam junior boys’ trophy in 2004 — is a win for the Scotsman.

Along with No. 1 Rafael Nadal, No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 6 Novak Djokovic, the reigning French Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon champions, respectively, Murray’s garnered a reputation as one of the greats of this generation. All four have gone through injury situations in the past two years, with all but Murray returning to championship form to win again at the majors.

Interestingly, this US Open represents the first time since Wimbledon 2017 that all four stars are competing at the same tournament of any level.

Murray, however, cautions not to read too much into his taking longer to return to peak condition as every physical impairment requires its own time frames to heal.

“All injuries are completely different,” Murray said. “Some are more serious than others. I haven’t really looked to them so much as an inspiration for a comeback. I’m trying to deal with the situation that I’ve been in as best as I can myself.”

Being benched for so long taught Murray that as frustrating as it was to have his career in an untimely stall, a silver lining can be found in adversity.

“That was the best part about being injured, or the only good part about being injured, was I got to spend lots and lots of time with them (his daughters) growing up,” said Murray, whose family just joined him in New York after his being on the road since Washington. “That’s been nice. So it was the most positive part about being injured and the downside of being back on the road again.”