Greg Rusedski feels Andy Murray could make decision whether to continue on the tour or retire from tennis in 2022; the Scot is playing with a metal hip after two surgeries; he contracted COVID-19 and suffered a 'freak' groin injury he sustained in his sleep before the Miami Open this year
Saturday 6 November 2021 17:15, UK
Greg Rusedski believes 2022 will be a defining year in the career of Andy Murray.
The former world No 1 has enjoyed a long run of matches on the men's ATP Tour since the US Open where he took one of the game's rising stars Stefanos Tsitsipas to five sets, but has failed to make a deep run in any of them due to being ranked outside of the top 100.
He has played tournaments in Metz, San Diego, Indian Wells, Antwerp, Vienna and Paris, while the Scot confirmed next week's Stockholm Open will be his last of the season.
Murray has been somewhat unlucky in the fact that he has faced top 20 players early in tournaments. He has lost to Hubert Hurkacz, Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Diego Schwartzman, but his loss to German world No 58 Dominik Koepfer in Paris "disappointed" Rusedski the most due to the nature of his defeat.
"I think 2022 we will know what Andy Murray is going to do. Is he going to continue on tour or is it going to be his last year?"
"It gets harder every single year, because this project has been going on for four years and the signs were looking really good from the US Open all the way until Paris, but his defeat to Dominik Koepfer was a little bit disappointing to be honest," former British men's No 1, Rusedski, said.
"Physically his body really didn't warm up for the first set and a bit. When his opponent served for the match at 5-4, he wasn't moving well, he wasn't striking the ball well. And he had seven match points and couldn't find a way through that match so I think it's going to be a hard road back to where he wants to.
"He says 'I'm not going to be happy losing in second and third rounds'. The problem he's going to have is he's not going to be seeded at these events, he's 144 in the world and to get his ranking up he's going to have to beat two or three top 10 players back to back, especially in these Masters Series events.
"I commend him for all the hard work he's putting in but he must be extremely frustrated because he's not getting the results he wants out there even though his tennis is getting better."
Rusedski, who will be playing alongside many legends of the game at the Champions Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall later this month, thinks Murray could make a career-defining decision next year.
The two-time Wimbledon champion is currently planning to rest and recuperate in the off-season before travelling to Melbourne for the Australian Open, which begins on January 17. He was forced to miss the Slam earlier this year after catching COVID-19.
He said: "I think 2022 we will know what Andy Murray is going to do. Is he going to continue on tour or is it going to be his last year? I think this is kind of the season that's going to determine how much longer we're going to see of that great champion.
"Next year is going to allow him to make the decision he wants because he will look back at this year and say, 'I trained really hard in the off-season, I was very unlucky I caught COVID so I was ready for the Australian Open', which is one of his favourite tournaments. He reached the final on six occasions and he really didn't get that momentum he was hoping for.
"Now with restrictions being lifted, now that you're vaccinated and travelling has become a little bit easier without the quarantine, there's not really any excuse. He can have a season where he can travel, choose his events, hopefully physically stay strong and he can make a decision on what he wants to do because at 34 years of age it doesn't get any easier, trust me!
"During my generation over 30 was bonus time, nowadays they're playing until the mid-30s. With all the injuries he's had to come back from it gets more and more difficult."
Greg Rusedski will be playing in the Champions Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall, the finale of the ATP Champions Tour, between November 25-28. Tickets available at www.atpchampionstour.com/london
