With rapid recovery, Murray ready for Paris

When Andy Murray suffered what looked like a serious ankle injury in the 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5) loss to Tomas Machac at the Miami Open, an appearance at the French Open might have seemed impossible. The general consensus was that the 37-year-old would aim for a return to Wimbledon.

Against all odds, Murray is ready to participate at Roland Garros. The Scot even played a preparation tournament for the Bordeaux Challenger, where he advanced one round before losing to Grégoire Barrère.

It was by no means a spectacular result from Murray, but more importantly he was – and remains – encouraged about his physical condition.

“(The) ankle is really good,” the three-time Grand Slam champion said during his pre-tournament press conference on Friday in Paris. “I mean, it’s always – when you come back to play games and all that – physically, it’s a challenge. It’s a little harder. Obviously, as you get older, my body generally feels better the more matches I play. This intensity is always difficult to match in training.

“I have some aches, but the ankle is really good. So (I’m) happy with the one in Miami.

“At first, it seemed quite improbable (that I would play Roland-Garros). It’s always difficult with injuries. You never know exactly how well they’ll heal and how the rehab will go, so setting deadlines and things isn’t always the smartest thing. Based on the type of injury I had, you know, it looked like 10 to 12 weeks. Therefore, I probably wouldn’t have been able to play, but (the rehabilitation) went really, really well.

“I was about to be able to play in Rome. But yeah, (I’m) happy that I managed to sort it out and be able to compete here again.

WAWRINKA FIRST FOR MURRAY

Murray will need to be ready from the start, as his first round match will be against none other than former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka. This will be their 24th meeting overall, with Murray leading the head-to-head series 13-9 (13-10 on the main circuit).

“I played against him for the first time when I was 18, in the Davis Cup in 2005,” says the former world number 1. “And then obviously (I’ve) faced him in some of the biggest tournaments and in some big matches over the years.

“It’s amazing that he’s still competing at the highest level at 39 and great that we have the opportunity to play against each other. It should be a brilliant, brilliant atmosphere…. He’s obviously had an incredible career and, yes, it’s a pleasure to be able to play against him in another slam.

This will be their fourth meeting at Roland-Garros; Wawrinka won two of the first three. They shared two semi-final encounters in 2016 and 2017 before the Swiss won 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of 2020.