Andy Murray to make return from injury in doubles at Queen's

Andy Murray will return to tennis in two weeks at Queen’s, and also with a partner at Wimbledon, but the three-slam champion is “very unlikely” to play singles until later in the season, according to a trusted source.

Murray, whose recovery from a second hip operation in January has quickened in the past few weeks, was always likely to ease his way back into the game in doubles and has been hitting again in light workouts, most recently with Dan Evans.

Murray and the Spaniard Feliciano López, old friends and career rivals, decided this week to pair up at the west London tournament, where the Scot has won a record five singles titles and the Spaniard was the 2017 champion.

Evans said after losing to Fernando Verdasco in the first round of the French Open last week that Murray was hitting the ball as well as ever, although his movement was still restricted. It is known his fitness and stamina have been reaching encouraging levels, but he has yet to convince himself that he could move with confidence or of his effectiveness in singles.

Sources at the tournament confirmed on Monday afternoon only hours before the closing of the lists of entrants that Murray had asked to play. The player and club have forged a long and fruitful association since he first played there after going on the Tour in 2005. He has won $1.3m in prize money at Queen’s and has contributed to several charity fundraisers.

Murray said on lta.org.uk: “I am really excited to return to the match court for the first time since my surgery. Queen’s has always been a special place for me and it’s the perfect place to return. It’s where I won my first ATP match, my first title in Britain and on grass, and it’s been my most successful tournament overall.

“I’m not yet ready to return to the singles court, but I’ve been pain-free for a few months now. I’ve made good progress in training and on the practice court, and this is the next step for me as I try to return to the tour.”

In Murray’s penultimate doubles appearance in 2017, he partnered Evans to a win against López and his namesake and regular teammate, Marc López, in the first round at Indian Wells. Murray and Feliciano have shared laughs, also, about the Scot’s mother’s lighthearted tweets about the handsome Spaniard.

If Murray does reasonably well in doubles at Queen’s, he will then prepare for a return to Wimbledon in the same discipline. However, it is almost certain that his comeback in singles will arrive later in the summer, probably in Cincinnati before the US Open, where he made his breakthrough in 2012, beating Novak Djokovic in the final.

He has endured back pain for most of his career and the troubles there have spread to groin and hip in recent years. Murray risked career-ending surgery on his chronic back pain in 2013, then tried to solve his hip problem with an operation in Melbourne at the start of 2018, which proved unsuccessful.

Photograph: Chesnot/Getty Images Europe

It was not until he explored the radical Birmingham Method of resurfacing of the hip joint that he found comfort in surgery in London after returning in serious discomfort from the 2019 Australian Open. He went through five excruciating sets against Roberto Bautista Agut there and, in a tearful press conference, admitted he was seriously considering retirement.

However, his love of the game and a determination to give it one last try has driven him to this point. He turned 32 last month. His future in the game might not be long, but it could prove to be as interesting as his first 14 years as a professional, perhaps culminating with an unprecedented third gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.