Murray may reduce his schedule (Picture: Anadolu Agency/Getty)

Andy Murray has hinted at significantly reducing his schedule in 2019 and confessed he may follow in Roger Federer’s footsteps by cutting down on his clay-court commitments next season.

The three-time Grand Slam champion will end his season after events in Shenzhen and Beijing in order to fully rest and recuperate for next year, as he continues his rehab from a hip injury.

Murray only had surgery in January before returning to action in the grass-court season, though he skipped Wimbledon.

After a second-round loss at the US Open, the Scot has decided to only compete in China and skip Masters 1000 tournaments in Shanghai and Paris-Bercy to focus on reconditioning.




With full fitness targeted for the Australian Open at the start of 2019, Murray admitted he’s willing to adapt his schedule, although results will determine how much time he takes off between tournaments.

Federer has reduced his schedule over the past few years (Picture: Getty)

Murray will wave goodbye to 2018 after Beijing (Picture: TPN/Getty)

But he hinted at following the lead of Roger Federer – who hasn’t played on the dirt since 2016 – with his approach to competing less on clay next year, in order to allow his body to fully recover.

‘What’s relevant is really how many matches you’re winning,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘If you play a reduced schedule – like 10 or 11 tournaments in a year – but you only win 10 matches, playing 20 matches in a year is not really enough.

‘You ideally want to have a lighter schedule and be winning matches. When you’re coming back from a long lay-off, when rankings drop and you’re not seeded in tournaments, it’s difficult to do that.

‘Maybe during the clay-court season I might look to reduce my schedule a little bit there, play a bit less potentially to give myself bigger chunks in the year where I’m giving myself time to train and let my body rest and recover.

‘Again that is probably something I haven’t done much over the years, but that’s how the tennis schedule works.’

Murray will take on Zhang Zhizhen in Shenzhen on Tuesday with the winner setting up a second-round tie with Belgian top seed David Goffin.