After playing just four clay matches over the past two and a half years, Andy Murray is ready to get back on the dirt in a confident frame of mind.
The three-time Grand Slam winner lost in the French Open first round to Stan Wawrinka in 2020 and tried his luck last spring in Madrid, where he reached the third round but handed in an injury walkover to Novak Djokovic.
But with his fitness now back on even keel, the former No. 1 is keen to get stuck in on the somewhat alien surface.
The 35-year-old has proven himself on the clay, reaching the Roland Garros final in 2016 before hip problems set in.
“My plan right now is to play in Rome and Madrid and hopefully Roland Garros, as long as my body is good,” Murray said after advancing this week in Doha.
“I’ll do a training block after Miami (early April) on clay, somewhere in Europe for three or four weeks.
“I’ll try to get my body used to the clay courts and I will listen to how my body feels.
If it feels good, I will play Rome, Madrid and hopefully Roland Garros,.
I don’t know how many times I’ve played it in the last five or six years (2020 only), but when I did, physically it wasn’t good,
“I’d like to have the opportunity to play it one more time before I retire. Although I feel very good physically,I would like to play there again.”
Main photo:- Andy Murray may be ready to take on the clay season again by Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd
