Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, who underwent back surgery in October and played his first ATP tournament since the U.S. Open this week in Doha, plays down expectations for the upcoming Australian Open.
"I wouldn't expect to win the Australian Open. I'm just saying that I know that I've trained hard and physically I've done a lot of good work,” he told the Independent. “But here was a perfect example of how you can be the fittest guy in the world but if you don't play matches it's completely different to anything we do in the gym or anything like that. It would be unrealistic to expect to win the Australian Open, but I may start to feel better if I can get through a match or two."
Murray, who will not play an ATP tournament next week despite wild-card offers from Sydney and Auckland, says he isn’t sure where his level is. The Scot has reached the Australian Open final three times. Murray lost to Florian Mayer in the second round of the Qatar Open in Doha.
"It's tough to gauge. The way I was playing for half the match against Mayer I would be very happy with, but being able to maintain that for five sets is tricky," he said. "Having a day off between matches would help me and also I'm going to get fitter by playing matches, so there's a possibility that if I can get through a couple of rounds I'll start to feel better as the tournament goes on. My body will start to feel better."