Andy Murray declares himself fit for Wimbledon
"I spent a lot of time with my physio, doing some extra exercises in my warm-up, strengthening exercises, a lot of stuff to try to loosen off that area and it's felt a lot better in the last few days"
Monday 3 July 2017 14:25, UK
Andy Murray has confirmed he will defend his men's singles title after declaring himself fit for Wimbledon.
Murray has been battling a hip injury which had raised a question mark over his participation in the tournament.
The world No 1 pulled out of two warm-up matches earlier in the week in an attempt to step up his efforts to reach peak fitness.
He came through a practice session at Wimbledon on Friday and on Sunday dismissed fears he may have to pull out.
"I'll be fine to play the event and play seven matches," he said. "Obviously no matches are easy. The last few days have been very good, practice each day has been slightly stop-start preparations but each day I've felt better.
"But a little bit like the French Open where maybe I didn't come in as well-prepared [as I would have liked], I still found a way with each match to feel a bit better and built confidence each day. So I'm hoping that's the case here."
Two-time Wimbledon winner Murray allayed fears about the potential long-term impact of the injury, insisting he has been managing the troublesome hip problem throughout his career.
"I've had hip problems since I was very young," he said. "It's not something new to me.
"It's just been very sore the last few weeks and was giving me quite a lot of trouble, moving to certain shots and getting to certain positions.
"That was why I had to take the break to try to give it a chance to settle down, calm down a bit.
"I spent a lot of time with my physio, doing some extra exercises in my warm-up, strengthening exercises, a lot of stuff to try to loosen off that area and it's felt a lot better in the last few days."
Murray also confirmed reports he and wife Kim are expecting their second child. Kim gave birth to the couple's daughter, Sophia, in February last year.
"We're both obviously very happy and looking forward to it," he added.
Murray faces Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik at 1pm on Monday, in the opening match on Centre Court.
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