Andy Murray has revealed that he played Viktor Troicki just two days after spraining his ankle and tearing a tendon.
British number one faced Troicki with sprained ankle and tear in tendon
Andy Murray has revealed that he took the court for his French Open fourth round clash against Viktor Troicki just two days after spraining his ankle and tearing a tendon.
The British number one booked his place in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros after fighting back from two sets down to complete a 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5 victory over his Serbian opponent.
The match had to be completed on Tuesday after bad light brought a halt to the marathon contest the previous evening.
Murray, who hurt his ankle against Michael Berrer in the third round but gave no official update on his fitness before the Troicki clash, started the match gingerly but began to move more freely as the contest wore on.
"The day and a half before the match was pretty tough. It was pretty stressful and tiring before I went on the court. And then today was tougher than yesterday. I was really nervous," he said.
"It was funny, after the points I was getting so tired in my legs and so out of breath. I wasn't even hitting the ball hard and was hardly doing any running. I think it was just nerves, and the windy conditions didn't help.
Emotional
"But once I went behind again, I loosened up a little bit, started going for my shots more and got through it. Emotionally it was pretty challenging.
"I don't think many people recover from a sprained ankle and a tear in a tendon in two days. I was told to stay off my feet totally the day in between the matches. I was given crutches which I didn't use because I didn't know how to.
"I didn't know how was it going to be until I went onto the court. The fact that I recovered well enough to play was probably the best point for me. I haven't really been in this position before in a slam.
"I managed to come back from a situation that on another day or another tournament I might not have been able to, so I was proud of that."
The fourth seed will play Juan Ignacio Chela in the last eight on Wednesday and Murray is expecting to be given another tough test by the Argentine clay-court specialist.
"He plays very well on clay. When we played last year it was a tough match, with lots of long games. There was a rain delay, and we had to come back the next day," he added.
"He's a tough player, one I've played well against in the past, and I'll have to do well against him again tomorrow."
