Andy Murray won his Stuttgart debut match on Tuesday and said he hopes that the fabled ATP Big 4 players will once again all compete at the same Grand Slam.
The 68th-ranked Scot who reached No. 1 in the world before hip surgeries starting in 2017 derailed his progress, reached the second round on the Weissenhof Club grass 6-4, 6-3 over Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connell.
With Rafael Nadal limping with a chronic foot problem after his 14th Roland Garros trophy at the weekend, Roger Federer still rehabbing after several knee procedures and Novak Djokovic nursing his pride after losing in the French Open quarters – Murray is unsure of when the elite quartet will ever be in the same place at the same time.
“I really hope so,” he said of the dream scenarios. “I would love to see Roger back playing again.
“It’s difficult to know when the end (of a career) is. People have been talking for many years… now the NextGen is here but the same guys are still winning the Grand Slams.”
Murray added: “If I had to bet on it, I think Roger will get back to competing, but we don’t know for how long.
“I hope we can all play another tournament together, I cannot remember the last time we were all together – but it’s been a long time.”
Murray will next play Kazakh Alexander Bublik, who defeated Denis Kudla – who beat Murray on Saturday in the Surbiton Challenger semi-finals – 7-5, 7-5.
Murray said there is no comparison between his current form and the physical problems he was facing a year ago during the grass season.
The three-time Grand Slam champion had only three matches last month in Madrid before following through on his original plan to skip the clay season.
His subsequent work on grass is starting to pay off.
“I played some good tennis at times, but i didn’t serve my best today. I had a slow start but once I got the (first-set early) break back i played some pretty good points.”
Main photo:- Andy Murray winning in Stuttgart today – by ATPTour.com
