Murray takes wild card into upcoming Shanghai Masters

Andy Murray played a Challenger event rather that showing up for singles and/or doubles at the U.S. Open, but he is ready to return to a bigger stage. On Thursday, the 32-year-old Scot accept a wild card into next month’s Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai.

Murray has played in two ATP singles events since his comeback from major hip surgery, losing in the first round in both Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati. The former world No. 2 then dropped down a level at the Mallorca Challenger, where he won two matches before falling to Matteo Viola in a third-set tiebreaker during third-round action.

“Now I don’t have any limitations on what I can’t do,” Murray said. “I am certainly still a little bit slow in terms of where I would like to get to. I’m thinking that in the next four or five months that is going to get better.

“The initial stages of the rehab were unbelievably slow. There were a lot of limitations. Just getting back to walking takes time and the exercises were incredibly basic but after six to eight weeks I was doing a lot of stuff. I was playing golf again and that was only eight to 10 weeks after surgery…so it has been brilliant so far.”

The reigning Queen’s Club doubles champion (with Feliciano Lopez) is an incredible 22-3 lifetime at the Shanghai Masters with three titles. He triumphed in his most recent appearance three years ago, part of a fall surge that propelled him to the year-end No. 1 ranking.

“I am just happy to be healthy again,” Murray explained. “I would like to be playing at a higher level but it was fun for me out there – recovering from matches because I don’t have pain, the preparation is fun. Hopefully it keeps going that way.”