Andy Murray will start his 2019 season in Brisbane. If John McEnroe is the man, the Scotsman will soon be at the top again.
3,155 points, that’s how many John Isner earned during the 2018 season. The US player has finished the top ten rankings, celebrated his greatest career success at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami, and later in the year reached the final round in Wimbledon. The same results would not be enough for a player who is outside the top 100 in the men’s charts to be in the top ten in the summer of 2019. After all, Isner scored even after the season’s highlight on Church Road.
So that’s how high the bar is for Andy Murray. Hanging up by John McEnroe.
“Andy has managed to be one of the best players on the tour over the last ten years, thanks to his athletic prowess, and to win majors,” the old champion told the English daily Daily Mail. “If he’s 100 percent or at least close, I expect Murray back in the top ten within six to nine months.”
But to make one important point: “If it’s only 80 percent, it’s a completely different story.”
Andy Murray currently ranks 259th in the ATP rankings. The 31-year-old had made his comeback after a protracted hip injury at London’s Queen´s Club, where he lost to Nick Kyrgios. Murray did not feel fit enough for a start in Wimbledon. At the US Open, the three-time Major winner then tried his luck again at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, losing to Fernando Verdasco in round two.
“When you see what Roger Federer did at the age of 36, or Nadal or Novak Djokovic, who was suddenly the old Djokovic again this year – I think Andy looks at these guys and says to himself: “I should be able to create something similar.”