Andy Murray has one weapon that still makes him tricky opponent for younger rivals

Andy Murray discusses his tennis future aged just 14

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Andy Murray’s return to the top of the game could rest on one shot, according to a former British No 1. The 34-year-old has been mounting a comeback from a hip resurfacing surgery over the last three years and recently returned to the top 100 for the first time since 2018. He is currently competing in this week’s Rotterdam Open.

Murray is still hoping to climb the rankings as his comeback from a hip injury continues.

He returned to the world’s top 100 for the first time since 2018 in this week’s rankings update and now sits at No 95.

The former world No 1 fired a defiant message earlier this week, sharing his intentions to keep competing as much as possible despite announcing he would be skipping the clay-court season this year.

“I don’t want to feel good just to train, I want to feel good in matches, so I’m going to keep trying to play as much as I can,” he said ahead of his opening match at the ANB AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

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The three-time major champion has been keen to build his ranking in order to avoid tough draws in early stages of tournaments, as he faces recent Montpellier champion Alexander Bublik in Rotterdam on Wednesday evening.

He has made several changes to help himself improve, changing rackets and parting ways with coach Jan de Witt after a trial period together during the Australian Open, where Murray suffered a disappointing second-round exit.

As he continues to strive for more titles and match wins, retired British player Andrew Castle has shared Murray’s passion for the game, which he believes is behind the 34-year-old’s continued comeback.

“He doesn’t want to give up and I completely understand that,” the former British No 1 told Tennis365.

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“If you don’t love the game, forget about it. So he must love the game. He loves winning, competing, trying his best training. You have to love all aspects of it.

“With Andy, I don’t know what the driving force is, but you are never going to be able to go back and do this again, so it is a mature attitude to stay with it.”

The retired former world No 80 also shared the weapon he believes helps Murray against the young talent coming through on the men’s game, with the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas becoming mainstays in the world’s top five.

Castle added: “What amuses me is a new generation has come along they think he can get through his backhand, but forget about it. You can’t get through his backhand.”

But the 58-year-old pointed out that it was tougher for Murray to get past some of the lower-ranked players, who had more power in this generation.

“Where the game has moved on is the sheer speed comparatively ordinary players are hitting at is going down to players ranks 150 and 200,” he said, before explaining why the former world No 1 was able to handle the challenge.

“That represents a huge challenge for Andy, but he is up for it and he makes the difficult things look simple because he is so technically superb.

“Changing the pace of the game, chopping the ball deep… I love the way Andy used the dynamics and dimensions of the court.

“He almost looks like a throwback in the way he plays the game compared to some of the young guys coming through, but I love watching him.”

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