Losing to an opponent wearing a kilt was perhaps not the most auspicious comeback for Andy Murray.
When that opponent is eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer and you let a young spectator play a handful of shots for you it puts the significance of the result into perspective.
There were still enough pointers from Murray’s return to action at a charity exhibition event in Glasgow following four months out through injury to suggest his target of challenging for a fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January is not totally unrealistic.
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Murray insisted he would only “come back when I’m ready and 100% fit. I believe I will get back to that” and the BBC’s tennis correspondent Russell Fuller was cautiously optimistic about what he saw.
“Eight weeks before his hoped for return in Brisbane, Murray put down an encouraging marker as he was beaten 10-6 in a deciding tie-break in Glasgow.
“We are getting used to seeing Murray walk with a slight limp but for the most part he ran and moved well. He covered a lot of ground in rallies which frequently switched direction, and struck the ball soundly. His serve is not yet back up to full speed, but that is only to be expected of someone rehabbing a serious hip problem.”
Murray squandered two chances to break Federer in the first set with the Swiss master going on to take it 6-3. The Scot hit back in front of a crowd of 11,000 to take the second set 6-3 – even though Federer donned a kilt for one game – before Federer won the championship tie-break 10-6.
Murray also came through a doubles match with brother Jamie against Tim Henman and Mansour Bahrami with no obvious ill-effects but The Guardian reported he was understandably well short of the level which saw him rise to the top of the world ranking just 12 months ago.
“An early athletic leap at the net suggested he trusted his body to respond to extravagant movement. Nonetheless, there were wide winners from Federer left well alone that Murray would have hunted down at break point in a slam final. His sideways movement, the real test of his fitness, was adequate, although he was as quick off the mark going forward as he always is, and the ball sprung sweetly from his racket much of the time.”
Murray joined in the light-hearted mood of the occasion by wearing a traditional Scottish hat complete with ginger wig at one stage and The Independent admits it was hard to get a true assessment of precisely where the 30-year-old was in his rehabilitation.
“Although a relaxed occasion like this was not the best moment to assess Murray’s fitness he did not appear to be in any discomfort as he chased balls to all corners of the court. There were, nevertheless, moments, particularly when he was walking between points, when he did not appear to move as freely as he had before suffering the hip injury this summer.”
