Wimbledon: Andy Murray has been described as “special” by tennis legend Roger Federer, who thinks the two-time Wimbledon winner will turn back the clock at the All-England Club this summer.
The 36-year-old three-time Grand Slam winner, who has revitalised his career following hip resurfacing surgery, has previously skipped clay-court tournaments to focus on grass.
The Scot won the second-tier Aix-en-Provence Challenger Tour title last month, but he was eliminated early in Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, and Bordeaux before withdrawing from the French Open.
Murray then arrived at Queen’s Club after winning back-to-back grass-court championships at the Surbiton Trophy and Nottingham Open, but an opening-round loss to Alex de Minaur destroyed his chances of getting a seeding at Wimbledon, which takes place from July 3-16.
Federer, who won 20 majors, including eight at the All England Club, says he is a “big fan” of Murray.
“Andy is a special man, and I’m glad he can still play. He adores it,” Federer remarked during a vacation to London.
“He really enjoys it. With all of the issues with his hip, it’s fantastic to see that he’s still going, and I believe we should all give him a good round of applause because what he’s going through and what he’s doing with what he’s gone through is incredible.
“It’s funny, he just won a Challenger in Surbiton. I played it in 1999 and lost in the semi-finals. And he won in the same week that Novak [Djokovic] broke the unbelievable record of 23 Slams, which obviously deserves a lot of appreciation.
“I’m a big fan of Andy’s, and I wish him the best of luck at Wimbledon because, in my opinion, that’s his best surface, especially nowadays.”
“So I hope he wins many, many rounds at Wimbledon in a couple of weeks.”
Murray feels he can compete with several of the seeded players at Wimbledon.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said to the Queen’s Club. “Clearly, grass has fewer players who are probably more at ease on the surface than clay and hard courts.
“You know, some of the seeded players may not be as comfortable on grass, so certain draws are better than others.”
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