John McEnroe: “Andy Murray must not rule out a third Wimbledon title”

Former American tennis player John McEnroe insists Andy Murray must not rule out a third Wimbledon title and believes next year could be defined by another renaissance story. "I’m sure Andy looks at those three and says: ‘I should be able to do something akin to what they’ve done’. At least come back to sort of what he was before," says seven-time grand-slam champion McEnroe, who is in London competing at the veterans Champions Tennis event. "If he does that, if you look at the top five, it’s not as if he can’t look at those players and think on a given day at Wimbledon that he couldn’t go the distance potentially." Murray's current ranking is a lowly No 259, but McEnroe, who himself suffered from hip problems towards the end of his career, says: "Clearly he had a serious hip injury and you could see that when he came back he didn’t seem to be 100 per cent, so I’m sure he’s just hoping he can get a couple more years. If he does that I would expect he would be in the top 10 within six to nine months, depending on how many events he does play. "But I would see him coming back quickly if he’s healthy. He is doing everything in his power to get back to full strength." Murray may also benefit from taking the reluctant step to have surgery, says McEnroe: "I never had a hip surgery. Sometimes I wish I had explored that. It wasn’t something that was thought to be necessary but I know that my hip issue bothered me since I was 26 or 27 years old, and it’s still not right, and never will be."

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