Andy Murray returns to action on Monday playing doubles with Nenad Zimonjic in Dubai after a five-week break that saw the Scot suffer from a bout of shingles.
The world No1 is playing the DDF tournament for first time since 2015 and just the second time since 2012 when he lost in the final to Roger Federer.
Murray’s last outing was a fourth round defeat to Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open last month. He later discovered he had shingles (a viral infection that causes a painful rash) but says he is now back to full strength.
“I had shingles. It’s not terrible but it’s not great. I just had to go easy for a little while because I wasn’t able to push that hard in training at the beginning when I got back into it. But I’m fine now and been training flat out for the last two and a half weeks really,” Murray told reporters on Sunday at the Jumeirah Creekside hotel.
The 29-year-old added that he does not know if the illness was affecting him in Melbourne and that he was diagnosed upon his return.
Murray’s surprise exit at the Australian Open was his earliest there since 2009 and he admits it was a disappointment. But the three-time grand slam champion has moved on and is hoping to pick up points in the upcoming four weeks where he is only defending a total of 90 points.
“I was obviously disappointed (about losing to Zverev) but it is at the end of a very long six, seven months. It’s unfortunate that a match like that happens at a slam. Obviously if I go back I wish that had happened somewhere else in that six, seven months but if it had done then I wouldn’t have got to No1 last year,” he explains.
“So yeah, maybe look back over the last six, seven months, look to the things that went well, what I could have done differently the last couple of months maybe that could have helped there, and then you move forward.
“The Australian Open finished five weeks ago, I’m not sitting up at night worrying about that match or thinking about that match anymore. I’m trying to get back to playing good tennis here and hopefully I will.”
Murray will commence his singles journey in Dubai against Tunisian Malek Jaziri on Tuesday.
