Murray steps up plans for singles comeback following doubles win

Andy Murray has started planning for a potential singles comeback following his doubles victory at Queen's Club.

The three-time Grand Slam champion, playing his first event since hip surgery, won alongside Feliciano Lopez, who also took the singles at Queen's Club.

Murray had said at the beginning of the week that he is aiming for a singles comeback, and having such a successful return to the court has given him more motivation going forward.

"I’m happy with playing tennis and training and having no pain any more," said Murray. "If I keep progressing, I would like to try to play singles."

He indicated that his first singles event would likely come at or following the US Open. Murray plans to play doubles with Pierre-Hugues Herbert at Wimbledon, and then decide whether to extend his doubles play or start training for singles.

"Either I keep playing doubles but start training and practicing singles through the US Open-swing, and then try and maybe play singles after that," he said. "Or take a longer break post-Wimbledon of maybe, let’s say, a month or six weeks, to get myself ready for singles and then try and play."

Either way, the 32-year-old plans to be careful about the amount he plays. No player has successfully returned to singles from such a surgery, though Bob Bryan and Nenad Zimonjic have both played doubles this season with similar procedures.

Murray had not played singles since the Australian Open, where he was unsure if the surgery would entail retiring from the sport. Now, he's happy just to be playing again.

"My schedule could potentially be a bit different. I might not play three weeks in a row or two weeks back to back," he said. "I know in Australia I didn’t anticipate playing doubles, but I also didn’t anticipate feeling like this and enjoying playing tennis like this, either."

Queen's Club was the third career doubles title won by Murray.