By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday June 23, 2019
Andy Murray is not retired and he never was, and that much was made apparent all week at the Fever-Tree Championships in London where the three-time major singles champion returned to play his first competitive matches since undergoing a second surgery to his right hip in late January of this year.
That operation--a last-ditch hail mary--came weeks after Murray announced to the world that his hip had become too bothersome and that he hoped to make it to Wimbledon in 2019—but doubted he would. At the time most believed that Murray would never play professional tennis again.
But in that dark press conference in Melbourne, when he tearfully told a room of reporters just how bad his situation had become, Murray did leave the door open for a better-than-expected result from a hypothetical second surgery, one that he was not sure he would undergo. More interested in quality of life than quality of tennis, Murray just wanted to be able to play with his kids, walk his dogs—heck, tying his shoes without pain would have been a start.
As it turns out Murray did do the operation—it was performed by Sarah Muirhead-Allwood. former surgeon to the Queen of England’s mother mind you—and now he is feeling his oats alongside his kids and pups, as well as on the tennis court.
Murray showed moments of brilliance, the usual deft hands and precise returns, as he and Feliciano Lopez marched to an emotional title that concluded with Sunday’s 7-6(6) 5-7 10-5 victory in the doubles final over Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
Murray is looking forward to a singles return at some point later in the season but for now he wants to savor the significance of the moment.
“I got so much enjoyment and happiness out of winning a first-round doubles match here—that’s enough,” Murray said. “I don’t have to be like getting to the U.S. Open this year and be really competitive and have to win the tournament for me to enjoy it. It would be nice but I really don’t mind so I’m going to go at my own pace.”
Murray and Lopez managed a late break back in the opening set with Salisbury serving in the opening set and took the tiebreaker. But this year’s Dubai champs hit back to force a champion’s tiebreak, taking the second set by breaking in the 12th game for 7-5.
Murray and Lopez controlled the match breaker, taking it 10-5 to send the partisan crowd into delirium.
Lopez is the first player to win singles and doubles at Queen’s Club since Mark Philippoussis in 1997.
“It’s tough to believe honestly,” said the 37-year-old. “It’s something that might never happen again. I just don’t believe everything that happened during the week.”