Andy Murray has recovered from yet another injury in time to play at Roland-Garros. The 37-year-old will face Stan Wawrinka in the opening round.
When Andy Murray suffered what looked like a bad ankle injury during 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5) loss to Tomas Machac at the Miami Open, an appearance at Roland-Garros may have seemed like a longshot. The general consensus was that the 37-year-old would target a return at Wimbledon.
Against all odds, though, Murray is ready to go for the French Open. The Scot even played a warmup tournament at the Bordeaux Challenger, where he advanced one round before losing to Gregoire Barrere.
It was by no means a spectacular result on Murray’s part, but the most important thing is that was — and remains — encouraged about his physical status.
“(The) ankle’s been really good,” the three-time Grand Slam champion said during his pre-tournament press conference on Friday in Paris. “I mean, it’s always — when you come back to playing matches and stuff — physically, it’s challenging. It’s a bit harder. Obviously, as you as you get older, my body generally feels better the more matches that I play. That intensity, it’s always hard to kind of match that in practice.
“I have a few aches and pains, but the ankle has been really good. So (I’m) happy about that of Miami.
This will be their fourth encounter at Roland-Garros; Wawrinka has won two of the first three. They split two semi-final showdowns in 2016 and 2017 before the Swiss prevailed 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in the 2020 first round.
