Roger Federer gives his verdict on ‘super positive’ Andy Murray return

Roger Federer says Andy Murray can be “super positive” about his return to singles tennis in Cincinnati despite his opening-round defeat.

Murray cut a tearful figure at the Australian Open at the start of the year as he announced he had failed to recover from his persistent hip injury.

He underwent surgery though, has had a successful comeback in the doubles, and played singles for the first time since Melbourne this week.

That match ended in a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Richard Gasquet, but Federer says there is nothing but encouragement to take from it for Murray.

“I’m in the locker room after his match with [Roberto] Bautista Agut in Australia and he didn’t look good,” Federer told Eurosport

“He was confused as to where his career was going to go, I remember that.

“People weren’t sure if he was going to retire or not, and he’s had major surgery now, so I’m very happy for Andy.

210 days
8 hours
25 minutes
24 seconds

And we counted every second. Welcome back to singles, @andy_murray ?#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/86DonQQwny

— Western & Southern Open (@CincyTennis) August 12, 2019

“I hope he’s going to return to his old strength. I know it’s a long long way to go, and surgery wasn’t all that long ago, so it’s super encouraging and positive that he’s willing to take it to the next level now.”

Murray has opted to continue focusing on doubles for the US Open after rejecting the offer of a singles wildcard.

“It was more likely that I was not going to [play], because although I did fine in the match today, physically, my legs felt quite heavy at the end of the match, and that’s probably not going to change a whole lot in a couple of weeks,” Murray explained after his match.

There is the possibility that Murray’s singles return will continue at Salem-Winston next week, though.

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