Posted on October 05 2018

Just as it seemed like Andy Murray was beginning to string a few matches together, his year has been ended prematurely as an ankle injury forced his retirement from the China Open. The Brit, who has suffered greatly with hip problems over the past year had looked to be returning to form after victory over world number 11, David Goffin in Shenzhen, but will now have to wait until next year to show that he still has what it takes to make it at the top.



Murray’s 2018 has been a virtual write off, as he underwent surgery on a troublesome hip back in January. Since then, Murray has managed to compete in just six events, after a gruelling period of rehab, which didn’t quite allow him to play his home Grand Slam at Wimbledon.

Things were looking up for the Scot as he managed to fight his way through 3 rounds at the Washington Open, proving that his fitness was something like back to where it needed to be, winning all 3 matches in 3 sets. This proved to be a step too far for Murray as he was forced to pull out of the quarterfinal, and the Canadian Open the following week, choosing instead to focus on the Cincinnati Open, and the US Open.



Though Murray was able to compete at both tournaments, he suffered a first round loss in Cincinnati and a second round loss at the US Open to end the North America stint of his year.



Nevertheless, making it through a run of tournaments relatively unscathed was an improvement for Murray, and fans were excited to see what he could achieve in his last two tournaments of the year in Shenzhen and Beijing.



Fans were initially rewarded for their optimism as their man won his first to matches, including an excellent win over David Goffin in straight sets. This was undoubtedly one of Murray’s best wins of the year, and things were starting to look up, with optimism renewed that Murray could return to his very best in 2019.



The third round saw Murray come up against the man who beat him in the US Open, Fernando Verdasco, and unfortunately for Murray, he was not able to achieve revenge over the Spaniard. The Spaniard came out the winner in a 6-4 6-4 victory, which left Murray with just the China Open to continue his rehabilitation.



One last run out for Murray in 2018 was not to be however, as an ankle injury forced the 31 year old to pull out of the China Open. This means that Murray’s season is now over, and he will take the time to reflect upon his 2018 before making his comeback in 2019.



While many will see 2018 as a big disappointment for Murray, the man himself will surely be looking at the positives. Murray has comeback from a fairly major surgery in tennis terms, and while he didn’t find the form and fitness he dearly would have liked, he did manage a reasonable run of tournaments, and some good results towards the end of the season.



Murray will now look towards the practice court as he seeks to reach peak fitness for the start of the 2019 season. As the win over David Goffin shows, Murray is not a million miles away, and if he can get his fitness right, he will surely be a major competitor next year.



It will be nice for Murray to get home and spend some time with his family, but no doubt he will be getting some tennis balls for Christmas, as tennis will be firmly on his mind. The Scott is an ultra competitor, and he will be expecting to be back at the top in 2019.