Tennis news - John McEnroe on Andy Murray’s Wimbledon doubles chances and potential singles return
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Updated 26/06/2019 at 13:26 GMT
John McEnroe believes Andy Murray could go all the way in the Wimbledon doubles but remains cautious about the Briton’s potential return to singles.
Andy Murray
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Murray completed a remarkable comeback to competitive action last week after five months out when winning the Queen’s doubles title with Feliciano Lopez.
The former world number one went on to lose in the opening round at Eastbourne alongside Marcelo Melo, but will take part in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon from next week with four-time Grand Slam champion Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Murray is yet to sound out a return date to singles actions however, as the 32-year-old looks to manage his recovery carefully following hip resurfacing surgery in January.
Speaking to ESPN, McEnroe said it will be difficult to gauge how successful Murray’s return could be until he is back on the singles Tour.
“Murray talked about being pain-free. Doubles is obviously a completely different animal than singles. Best of five is totally different than best of three with a third-set tiebreaker,” McEnroe said.
“But it was nice to see him sort of eager and into it and looking like he was —relatively healthy. You can’t really determine it until he starts playing singles matches and how the body reacts if you’re on a hard court, for example, as opposed to grass.
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It looked very promising, which is great. I think everyone wants him to be able to come back and then be able to leave and retire on his own terms.
“It looked like he’s covering half the court, he’s not moving the same way, but all things considered, I was extremely happy to see that he was making some real progress.”
McEnroe believes Murray has a great chance to win the doubles title at Wimbledon, but said he should not have played a Eastbourne after going all the way at Queen’s.
“He should have pulled out is what he should have done because he played more matches than he expected, and he won it, and let it just sit there and then play Wimbledon,” McEnroe added.
“But you get stuck, and he found a commitment. But I’m sure there’s a let-down physically and mentally, so I wish he hadn’t played, but it’s easy to be the backseat driver.
I think he’s got a chance to win it. He could win it. He could also lose first round. That’s the bottom line. But it would be a great story if he won it.
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to determine whether or not he’s going to come back in singles or how high his ranking will be in singles, but doubles is a great way to sort of get things going.
“I’m glad he’s doing it and feeling it out right now, and we’ll see what happens. But there’s no question the way he plays and returns and he’s into it, like competitive-wise, he could go all the way potentially.
“And then again, it’s just totally unpredictable.”
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