It has been a long road to recovery for Murray having experienced injury problems for the past few years now.
A successful hip operation after the 2019 Australian Open though gave him some hope of returning to competitive action at some point in the future.
And after months of rehabilitation, the 32-year-old eventually made his comeback in the men’s doubles at Queen’s where he won the title alongside Feliciano Lopez.
More doubles action followed at Wimbledon and the Citi Open with further questions being asked on when he would make his competitive return to singles.
Those questions were finally answered last week when he announced he would be taking part in the Cincinnati Masters.
Anticipation was building from tennis fans in the days leading up to his first round match against Richard Gasquet.
But it was also clearly an emotional moment for Murray himself who wanted to capture the moment he walked back on a singles court on the ATP Tour for the first time in over seven months.
The three-time Grand Slam champion was greeted with loud cheers as his name was read aloud by the announcer.
And Murray held out his phone in front of him as he made his way on to the court, appearing to film the occasion and savour the moment.
It was still going to be a tough ask for Murray on his first return to competitive singles action since the start of the year.
Gasquet may not have enjoyed the best season in 2019 so far having only returned to action himself in May from a long injury lay-off, but just last week he recorded impressive victories over Kei Nishikori and Benoit Paire.