Earlier this year at the Australian Open, Andy Murray announced his intention to retire from tennis due to a long-ass battle with hip pain. But after undergoing a “life-changing” hip resurfacing surgery, the former world number one slowly made his way back to the court. Today, Tennis Australia announced his place in the 2020 Oz Open. Hell yes.
Confirmed: @andy_murray will return to compete at the #AusOpen in 2020. pic.twitter.com/mbdFlAgOZA
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) October 7, 2019
Murray crashed out of this year’s Australian Open after a first round lost to Robert Bautista Agut. The five-time runner up told reporters afterwards: “The pain is too much.”
“Yeah, I think there’s a chance [the Australian Open 2019 would be his last tournament]. Like I said, I’m not sure I’m able to play through the pain, you know, for another four or five months.”
After undergoing surgery, Murray kicked off his comeback campaign in June by playing doubles in a couple of lil’ tournaments. He recently reached the quarter-finals of the China Open, his first since returning to the court, but lost to Dominic Thiem (World No. 5).
Murray just beat Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Londero in his first round match at the Shanghai Open, after accepting a wildcard entry. He beat Londero 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The three-time Grand Slam winner is now ranked 289th in the world.
Side note: the caption always gets me.
Murray aside, Tennis Australia recently announced a new tournament to be hosted across Perth, Brisbane, and Sydney in 2020.
24 countries will compete in the ATP Cup, with different stages of the competition hosted across the three cities.
The big three, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, are all locked in to play at the Cup. As are Thiem (Team Austria), Alexander Zverev (Germany), Stefanos Tsitsipas (Team Greece), Kei Nishikori (Team Japan), Fabio Fognini (Team Italy), and Gael Monfils (Team France).
Also, Andy Murray will compete for Team Great Britain!
[jwplayer o99oLBGu]
