I’ve got my golden glow back again...

Fit-again Murray is ready for glory

THE London Olympics may be a distant memory for some but it seems Andy Murray may just be getting that golden feeling again as he begins his Wimbledon countdown.

Fresh from coming within one set of reaching his first French Open final, and fully recovered from the bug that afflicted him in Paris, Murray is back on his beloved grass and clearly believes he can regain the crown he won in 2013.

That victory came after a 12 monthperiod that began with defeat by Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final, a loss he avenged with Olympic gold a few weeks later. His first grand slam title followed in New York that autumn before his famous Wimbledon triumph in 2013.

Last year, Murray fell flat in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon but 12 months on he is full of confidence and, with the benefit of an extra week in the calendar between Paris and Wimbledon, he believes he will be better prepared than ever.

‘It will help all the players but for me, when I felt like I played my best tennis on grass was before the Olympics, post Wimbledon, when I spent like six, seven weeks on the grass,’ he said.

‘The more time on the grass before Wimbledon, the better for all of the players.’

The fact Murray is playing just one competitive event in the build-up, the Aegon Championships at Queens, is nothing to do with the illness which ‘closed up’ his left eye during the French Open. This is his usual schedule. However, Murray revealed the bug did take its toll.

‘I took three-and-a-half days off after Paris and then practised the last couple of days at Wimbledon then came here today,’ said Murray.

‘They were three full days off any training or anything. I needed to rest and recover. I was actually sick for about a week, really, so I needed to recover from that too.

‘To be honest, I actually felt OK but the day I played [David] Ferrer [in the quarter-finals] I didn’t feel great. When I got on the court and started running around it was fine but, when I got back, my left eye closed up and I had a bad cough for a couple of days. I’m fine now, though.’

Murray, who begins Queens against a qualifier, has won the Aegon title three times.

He is in his best form since before he underwent back surgery in September 2013, a surgery he yesterday said had affected him more than he’d anticipated.

‘Last year was definitely a very difficult year,’ he said. ‘The first six months were especially hard.

‘Coming off the surgery, I found it difficult. I maybe didn’t expect it to be that hard. Whereas this year, from the beginning I felt ready to win major competitions again. It’s been, huge, huge progress from where I was at this stage last year.

‘I have played extremely well so far this year so I have to be happy about that. Obviously the grass courts suit my game better than the clay and if I can take some of the form from the clay over to the grass and the confidence I’ve built up there, I’m sure I can have some good results.’

Murray’s coaching set-up has been a source of interest ever since it was announced in March that Amelie Mauresmo was pregnant.

She is due to give birth in August but contrary to reports earlier in the week, Murray said yesterday that she will miss Queen’s, but be in charge at Wimbledon, as planned, with Jonas Bjorkman alongside.

He said: ‘Amelie will be at Wimbledon but we’d never planned on her coming here this year.

‘It’s good that before she is away for a few months from the team, because I would imagine that, during Wimbledon, Amelie will take the lead and Jonas can see how we operate a bit more as a team.

‘It’s good that she’s going to be there. We know each other a lot better than we did at this time last year. So I think she’ll be able to help more this year.’