Australian Open: Andy Murray’s trip down under the wrong call

Andy Murray’s decision to travel to Australia was, in hindsight, the wrong call.

Andy Murray practising with Milos Raonic in Brisbane on New Year’s Day.

Andy Murray arrived at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport from Brisbane on Thursday but, rather than exiting and making his way to the Rod Laver Arena, he transferred to an international flight for the long journey home, thus bringing to a close this forlorn attempt to compete at the Australian Open.

A nine-day trip that began last Wednesday, covering more than 20,000 miles and featuring only one exhibition set and four practice sessions, will come to an end when Murray arrives back at Heathrow today (AEDT). He will have had time to reflect on his decision to travel here which, admittedly with the benefit of hindsight, was the wrong call.

Murray, as determined as he is to return to the court, still believed last week that he could return to the level of fitness required in time to make his long-scheduled comeback at the Brisbane International. His bloody-mindedness has so often proved the doubters wrong. The signs were there, though, even before Christmas, that it was verging on the unwise.

It was Murray himself who stated at the start of November: “I’ll come back when I’m ready and 100 per cent fit.”

Never during the exhibition match against Roger Federer in Glasgow, his pre-season training or his brief time on the practice court has he looked close to full fitness. There is much sympathy for the predicament that he finds himself in, ever since early June when he woke up the morning after his French Open semi-final defeat with a sore hip. It evoked a feeling of sadness to read the long and emotional message he posted on social media on Tuesday, which was accompanied by a picture of himself as a child at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland.

Yet, there is no doubt that Murray’s handling of this long period of recovery could have been better. It appears that he has not learnt from his attempt to rush back and play at the US Open. He admitted in November that it was a “mistake”, but a repeat episode has played out here soon after.

Murray’s journey to Brisbane was far from ideal. Originally, he had planned to travel out before Christmas to give himself time to acclimatise. After some setbacks during training, his departure date was pushed back to December 27, and it was announced that he would stop off at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition in Abu Dhabi to practise for two days.

When Novak Djokovic announced his withdrawal from the event, Murray agreed to step in at the last minute and play one set against Roberto Bautista Agut, the world No 20 from Spain. His movement during the 6-2 defeat did not make for optimism.

Murray, however, was satisfied enough with his performance to catch the last flight to Brisbane. Walking off court at about 7.45pm, he made the 30-minute journey to the airport, where he is said to have barely made check-in for a 9.40pm departure. Such a rush was not the optimal situation ahead of a 14-hour flight for someone with a sore hip.

Upon arrival in Brisbane on Saturday evening, Murray told a waiting reporter that he was “pretty confident” he would be able to play his second-round match, after a first-round bye, later in the week.

The same was said during his pre-tournament press conference the next day, although there was an admission that his desperation to contest a match again was overriding his lack of fitness. Two practice sessions, the last on Monday with the Canadian Milos Raonic, made Murray realise that he was not, in fact, ready to compete in an official match. He withdrew from the tournament on Tuesday afternoon and retreated to his hotel room to consider, for the next day and a half, whether it was worth bothering to try to prepare for the Australian Open.

Despite the promise from Murray’s management that he was happy to speak to the British press pack at the Queensland Tennis Centre for five minutes on Thursday, the man himself suddenly decided in the morning to give up on his hopes of playing at the Australian Open and head for home.

Confusion reigned when it emerged that the 30-year-old had taken a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne around noon — was he still going to try to play? — until his agent Matt Gentry woke up in the early hours of the morning back in Britain to discover that, to his surprise, his most prominent client was leaving Australia earlier than expected.

This is, somewhat bizarrely, part of a trend during Murray’s recovery period in which he often keeps his own management out of the loop.

For an athlete who has publicised in recent weeks the ramping up of client acquisition for 77, the sports management agency he set up in 2013, it is peculiar to say the least.

Murray’s arrival in Melbourne, before transferring to a flight bound for home, was followed by the formal notification to Craig Tiley, the tournament director of the Australian Open, that he was withdrawing. As a result, the odds further lengthen that he will ever triumph at the tournament where he has lost five finals in 12 appearances.

While some will suggest otherwise, this is by no means the end of Murray’s career. But, after putting it off for so long, surgery is increasingly looking like the last resort.

It is a decision that, this time, Britain’s greatest tennis player must get right.

The Times