Australian Open 2022: ‘He's still making big strides’ - Tim Henman tipping Andy Murray for deep run at Wimbledon

ByRichard Newman

Updated 24/01/2022 at 20:01 GMT

The former British number one has told Eurosport that Murray can still be a contender at Grand Slams and believes Wimbledon will be his best chance to go far this year. Murray was hard on himself after a second round defeat at the Australian open, but Henman says he is always his “own harshest critic” and thinks he is making constant improvements to his game.

Tim Henman believes there are plenty of memorable moments to come for Andy Murray and believes he can reach the second week of Grand Slams this year - with his best chance likely to be at Wimbledon.

The three-time Grand Slam champion was hard on himself after losing in straight sets to Taro Daniel in the second round of the Australian Open, having recorded an impressive five-set win over Nikoloz Basilashvili in the previous round.

Afterwards, Murray raised doubts about whether he would be Melbourne again in 2023, but after years of injury problems - which finally seem to be a thing of the past - Henman has put that down to him being “his own harshest critic” shortly after defeat, and believes he is making “big strides” in moving back towards his best.

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“I really feel that Murray's moving in the right direction and he'll continue to put in the hard work,” Henman told Eurosport.

“Fingers crossed he doesn't get any setbacks with injuries, and I'm sure you know, there's going to be a lot more big moments on court for Andy Murray.

I think he's still making big strides in his game. With the hip surgery that he's had, the amount of tennis that he's missed over the last three and a half-four years has been massive.

“Now he's starting to build consistently, he might not always be having the results that he wishes and then the expectations that he's got. But for me, the important element is that he's not having interruptions to his training, to his tournament schedule.

“This is a long year and to have already been in a final [the Sydney Classic]l, he's played plenty of tennis, he's got matches under his belt, I'm sure he can bounce back from this pretty rapidly”.

• ‘I think we’ll still see him next year’: Konta on Murray’s future
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Murray’s schedule going forward is unclear but he is likely to prioritise the grass court season and Henman believes the two-time Wimbledon champion will be looking for another decent run at the All England Club.

“I think when you reflect on some of his matches, last year in the Slams, he won a couple of amazing matches at Wimbledon, had an incredible match against [Stefanos] Tsitsipas at the US Open.

I think his game has developed a lot more, I think his fitness is better, I think his movement is sharper. I definitely think he can get to the second week of a Grand Slam.

“Where is it most likely to happen? I think the reality is probably Wimbledon. I think grass is a surface that he's very comfortable on.

“He has the experience of playing great tennis [there], having won there twice and also the support of the crowd so I think if he's going to have a good run in a Grand Slam in 2022, it'll probably be at Wimbledon.”

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