Andy Murray will make his return to hard courts when teaming up with brother Jamie for the men’s doubles at the Citi Open next week. Andy Murray is slowly making his way back from hip resurfacing surgery in January and will head to Washington for what will be his fourth event since returning to action.
The three-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t played competitively on a hard court since going under the knife but will make the switch to the new surface, as he begins his preparations for the US Open, which gets underway at the end of August.
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Andy and Jamie have previously won doubles titles in Spain and Japan, while they enjoyed success at Davis Cup level in 2015 but most recently have worked with other partners on the ATP tour, with Andy partnering Pierre-Hugues Herbert at Wimbledon and reaching the second round of the men’s doubles.
Jamie and Neal Skupski went out in the first round at SW19 but the 33-year-old is the defending champion in Washington after he claimed the title with Bruno Soares last year. “They called us and said Andy really wanted to come back to DC and wanted to play doubles with his brother,” said Mark Ein, Citi Open manager.
“We’re putting a real focus on doubles at the event – it’s a terrific piece of the competition and entertainment value for fans, so we were thrilled he wanted to return.” Andy Murray had previously said he was unlikely to play at the Citi Open again after clashing with tournament director Keely O’Brien, accusing him of publicly “rinsing” him after he withdrew from the singles tournament in 2018.
