Exclusive: Andy Murray targets French Open return – ‘I don’t know how many more chances I’ll get’

Andy Murray has outlined his plans to for a busy European clay court season, including a potential French Open return.

The former world No.1 has competed at the French Open just once since making the 2017 semi-finals, a first-round exit in 2020.

Murray is a four-time semi-finalist and was runner-up in 2016 at the Grand Slam in Paris, but he has battled repeated injury problems in recent years.

The 35-year-old kicks off the European clay court season against Alex De Minaur in the opening round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Monday, and he told Eurosport he hopes this will just be the start.

“I’m planning on playing here, in Madrid and Rome, and then depending on how the body feels and how I’m playing, I’ll decide on the French Open,” Murray said.

“If I feel like I can have a good run there, I would like to play. I’ve not really played much there since 2017, and I don’t know how many more chances I’ll get to play there. Whilst I’m feeling good, I would love to do it again.”

Murray underwent hip operations in 2018 and 2019 and faced a long, hard battle to return to the top end of the sport.

Murray was asked about concerns over how his hip will hold up to the challenge of competing on the slippery clay courts.

He replied: “There was a worry about it the last couple of years because I hadn’t played on it much and it always took me a while to adjust to the surface.”

“But I feel much better physically on clay than I do after the long hard court matches. It’s a bit easier on the joints.

“I do still need to be bit careful with the movement. But I felt good last year when I practiced on it and played in Madrid, and this year it’s been good so far.”

Murray’s season so far has been characterised by some epic wins that have gone the distance, including memorable five-set victories over Matteo Berretini and Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Australian Open and a run of four straight matches in Doha that required a deciding set.

Some less stressful victories would come as a relief for Murray and his fans in Monte Carlo, but he’s not expecting that to be the case against 14th seed De Minaur.

“There have been a few two-set losses! I’ve not won many in straight sets, but I’ve got a tough opener against De Minaur,” Murray said.

“We played a couple of times on tour and they were both pretty brutal matches, so I would probably expect that to be the case again.”

Murray also explained who his favourite players to watch on tour are in the men’s and women’s game.

“I love watching (Carlos) Alcaraz, he’s great to watch with his game style, his personality on the court,” he said.

“I also enjoy watching Medvedev, just because he’s got such a different game to a lot of the players. He’s very unorthodox, nothing he does on court is textbook.

“I love watching (Iga) Swiatek, she moves great, the shape she plays with on the ball. I always watch Emma (Raducanu) matches when I can, but I do love watching Swiatek.”

Murray faces De Minaur on Monday, with the winner earning a second-round clash against Jan-Lennard Struff or Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

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