Andy Murray has started 2019 with a victory over James Duckworth in the first round of the Brisbane International.
The former world number one was making his first appearance on the ATP Tour since losing at the quarter-final stage of the Shenzhen Open in September.
Indeed, the Briton has been struggling with a long-standing hip problem for the last 18 months and he was limited to just six tournament appearances throughout 2018.
However, the 31-year-old showed he can still compete at the highest level after comfortably seeing off Australian wildcard Duckworth 6-3 6-4 at Queensland Tennis Centre on New Year’s Day.
Murray was certainly delighted to make a winning return to competitive action and he is keen to enjoy his time on court, as he admits he does not know how long he will be able to continue playing on tour.
“It’s been a really hard 18 months, a lot of ups and downs – it’s been tricky to just get back on the court competing again,” Murray said following his first-round victory.
“So I’m happy I’m back out here again. I want to try and enjoy it as much as I can and just try and enjoy playing tennis as long as I can. I don’t know how much longer it’s going to last but we’ll see.”
Murray’s reward for reaching the second round will be a clash with fourth seed Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday.
It will be the first time the two players have ever met on tour and Murray is priced at 1.67 to emerge victorious, while world number 16 Medvedev is available at 2.05.
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