CINCINNATI: Andy Murray’s gold medal is back home in a cabinet. He hasn’t even had time to pick an appropriate spot for the grandest prize of his career.
There’s a more immediate challenge: get back in form for the US Open.
Murray took a few days off to let a sore left knee heal and get some needed rest for the start of the Western & Southern Open in suburban Cincinnati.
Murray is the defending champion in Cincinnati, but a worn-down one after the greatest moment of the Scot’s tennis career.
He barely had time to celebrate his Olympics gold medal win over Roger Federer at Wimbledon, spending the next day doing interviews and having dinner with his friends. The following morning, he was on a plane for Toronto and the Rogers Cup.
After two days of matches, he withdrew last Thursday because of the sore knee and tiredness from the hectic few days. Murray blamed the soreness on having to adjust overnight from Wimbledon’s soft grass to the hard courts.
”Going onto a new surface, that presents new challenges,” Murray said Sunday. ”I felt good after winning the gold medal, but coming over to play on hard courts, your body starts to hurt a little bit, you’re sore in the joints.
”You have to work on different shots as well. So that can occupy your mind a bit… Switching surfaces is a new challenge, something that’s taken me a few days to adjust.”
Murray will be one of the top draws in a tournament missing Rafael Nadal, who dropped out because of a sore knee, and defending champion Maria Sharapova, who is recovering from a stomach virus. (AP)