Andy Murray hopes his Aix-en-Provence Challenger victory can be the start of something very positive. Murray, who is set to turn 36 on May 15th, defeated Tommy Paul in the Aix-en-Provence final 2-6 6-1 6-2 to win his first Challenger title since 2005.
Also, it was Murray’s first title of any kind since late 2019 – when he won an ATP 250 event in Antwerp. Murray’s clay season started with a brutal 6-1 6-3 loss to Alex de Minaur in the Monte Carlo Masters first round. Then, Murray suffered a shock 6-2 7-6 (7) loss to Andrea Vavassori in the Madrid Masters first round.
After a very rough start to the clay season, Murray decided to return to the Challenger Tour – the decision turned out to be a great one. “This last year, 18 months has been a bit of struggle with my game. But (my team) have been there supporting me and working with me to try and get better.
We keep going from here,” Murray said, per the Associated Press.
Murray set for another Challenger event
This week, the Rome Masters is kicking off but Murray won’t be competing at Foro Italico. Next week, Murray is scheduled to compete at the Bordeaux Challenger.
After competing in Bordeaux, Murray is scheduled to compete at the French Open. Murray, the 2016 French Open runner-up, has appeared at Roland Garros just once since 2017. In recent months, Murray repeated several times that he would to play at Roland Garros at least one more time before he retires.
“I would like to play, just purely because I don’t know if I’ll get another opportunity to play again. Whilst I feel fit and healthy, I would like to give it a go,” Murray said. It remains to be seen if Murray will compete at Roland Garros for the first time since 2020.
