Melbourne (AFP)
The British Andy Murray will make his Grand Slam comeback at the Australian Open in Melbourne in January, a year after a hip operation, announced the organizers Tuesday.
"Confirmed: Andy Murray will return to competition at # AusOpen in 2020," they tweeted. The official website of the Australian Open said Murray "would come back to the main draw with a protected number two ranking".
The 32-year-old Scotsman, winner of three Grand Slam tournaments, is working to return to his best level and is now 289th in the world, while he was still 503rd last week.
Winner of a wild card, Murray won his first game at the Shanghai Masters 1000 on Monday by beating Argentina's Juan Ignacio Londero in straight sets after reaching the quarter-finals in Beijing a week ago.
In Melbourne, he played five finals, the last in 2016, but without winning one (against two wins at Wimbledon and one at the US Open).
Before the 2019 Australian Open, Murray held an emotional press conference, announcing in tears that he would retire after Wimbledon because his hip pain had become too much to bear.
But the success of placing a prosthesis in his left hip allowed him to return to the circuit, first in doubles in June, with a title immediately on the lawn Queen's associated with the Spanish Feliciano Lopez.
He then returned to singles competition in August in Cincinnati, where he was defeated in the first round by Richard Gasquet.
The organizers of the Australian Open also hope for another comeback, even more resounding: that of Belgian Kim Clijsters, after an absence of more than seven years for family reasons.
The 36-year-old retiree, who won four Grand Slam tournaments, surprised everyone last month by announcing she would return to the courts in 2020.
© 2019 AFP