Murray’s Hotel Update / Australia Open Maybe

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 1st November 2013

Murray's Hotel Update / Australia Open Maybe

epa03743327 Britain's Andy Murray in action against Marinko Matosevic of Australia during a third round Aegon Championships tennis match at the Queen's Club in London, Britain, 13 June 2013. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

While Andy Murray makes his recovery from September back surgery, the 2014 opening of his hotel investment property in Scotland is going according to plan.

Murray bought historic but outdated Cromlix House Hotel for nearly $3 million early this year, and is having it renovated in time for an April opening. That just happens to be perfect timing to get everything ready for next September’s Ryder Cup golf in the area, which is expected to fill the five-start Victorian establishment with rich punters paying big money to sleep at Murray’s new joint.

The 15-bedroom establishment will feature a Chez Roux restaurant specializing in local cuisine, with catering and garden party facilities for up to 300 guests. Outside of eating, on-site activities in the village setting will also include fishing, archery, falconry and – of course – tennis. The 23-acre property is not far from Murray’s home village of Dunblane.

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Andy Murray is insistent he will only play January’s Australian Open if he is fit enough to win the title.

But the Wimbledon champion has been granted the very best facilities to undergo rehabilitation after the back surgery he underwent last month and is making daily visits to the training headquarters of English Premier League soccer club Chelsea.

Chelsea’s charismatic manager Jose Mourinho has put the state-of-the-art facilities at the club’s Cobham base, just a couple of miles from Murray’s home Oxshott, Surrey, at the world no.4’s disposal.

Now, while the rest of the world’s top players do battle at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the London 02 next week, the 26-year-old Scot is hoping he will be able to hit some balls gently on court for the first time since the surgery.

Speaking at the launch of the new Head Graphene Radical racket at London’s Queen’s Club where he won the AEGON Championships title in June, Murray said: “The rehab is going well. I’ve got a bike and weights at my house, but I’m doing a lot of the stuff at Chelsea’s training base.

“I’m doing a lot in the swimming pool there, basically the anti-gravity running. They’ve got an underwater treadmill, which has been a massive help for me because there aren’t many of the players around. It has speeded up the recovery, although I’m not doing any rotational stuff.

“I’ve seen a few of the players but I try not to disrupt them at all. The first day I was there Jose came down to say hi and we chatted. He didn’t give me any advice but it was really interesting to speak to him, I’ve met him a couple of times before and it’s been nice.

“I love football and it’s good to have him back managing here, I’m going to watch a training session next week.”

Murray is reluctant to put a target on his comeback date but is on schedule to head off to his usual off-season Miami boot camp in the next few weeks. His aim is to play in the Dream Cup, an exhibition event in Barbados, at the end of this month.

Primarily the object is to banish the pain which periodically has affected his lower back for close to two years. He insisted: “I don’t want to go into my medical history, it wasn’t a disc thing but there were a few issues with my back. All the things I like to do away from the court, like playing football, go-karting, golf and other sports, I wasn’t able to do.

“I was thinking I just don’t want to have to do hours of physio every day for the next five or six years, and with my tennis I was having to adjust the way I was training on court, adjust the way I was training in the gym.”

Topics: 10sballs, Andy Murray, ATP World Tour Finals, Australian Open, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Wimbledon