Andy Murray has insisted that he will be aiming to win the grand prize at Wimbledon this year in a bold pre-tournament warning to the likes of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini. Murray has seen his on-court efforts plagued by injury over the last few years but will be determined to produce an impressive showing on his return to the All England Club, with the action set to get underway on Monday.
The Scot was knocked out by Denis Shapovalov in the third round of last year’s competition but managed to reach the final of this month’s Stuttgart Open and will be hoping to maintain his positive momentum in SW19 over the coming weeks. He has already underlined his desire to pip the likes of Nadal and Djokovic to glory at Wimbledon in what would be a remarkable achievement given his well-documented injury problems since winning his last Grand Slam title in 2016.
“I want to win the tournament, that’s the goal,” Murray told GQ ahead of this year’s tournament. “To be honest, I went into it last year without being well prepared physically.
“I wasn’t feeling great, I had quite a few injuries and niggles in the build-up to it, and I was really quite close to missing the tournament. So my hope for the event is that I feel really good right now.”
JUST IN: Andy Murray tipped to challenge Nadal and Djokovic for Wimbledon title
Murray is currently facing a race against time to reach full fitness for Wimbledon after picking up a side injury in Stuttgart last weekend. The 35-year-old is still expected to appear at the All England Club but it remains to be seen whether he will be firing on all cylinders or if his latest setback will prevent him from mounting a genuine challenge over the course of the next Grand Slam of the year.
He recently reunited with Ivan Lendl as his coach for the third time and will be hoping to strike up another successful partnership with the 62-year-old in order to boost his hopes of winning at Wimbledon this month. Lendl believes that Murray has every chance of getting back to his best if he manages to emulate Nadal by putting his injury woes to one side in order to fight for victory when the on-court action begins next week.
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“You are asking this with a straight face after what Rafa [Nadal] has done in Australia,” Lendl told Eurosport back in March when quizzed on whether Murray has what it takes to win another Grand Slam title before the end of his career.
“All these guys have incredible determination. They are just like bulldogs and they want to do things because they haven’t been done before.
“If they set their mind to it then they can achieve amazing things. Rafa said he wasn’t even sure he’s going to be able to play again, then he goes and wins the Australian Open so yes, these guys can do it.”
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