Murray declares himself fit to defend Wimbledon title
Andy Murray announced yesterday that he is fit to defend his title at Wimbledon following a recent hip injury scare.
The world No. 1 pulled out of two warm-up matches earlier in the week as he battled to secure peak fitness.
But, yesterday, he dismissed fears he may have to pull out, saying: "I'll be fine to play the event and play seven matches."
Murray faces Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik today in the opening match on Centre Court.
The 30-year-old Scot also confirmed reports that he and wife Kim are expecting their second child.
Murray said: "We're both obviously very happy and looking forward to it."
Speaking of the hip problem, he added: "I've had hip problems since I was very young.
"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, stuff to try to loosen that area and it's felt a lot better in the last few days."
NO EASY MATCHES
Asked if he could play himself into shape in the first week of the tournament, Murray 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."
Murray said knowing he is due to become a father again would have no bearing on his performance.
"No, I wouldn't have thought so," he said.
Regarding his wife, Murray added: "She'll be coming to Wimbledon and we found out a while ago, but I'm not interested in discussing the dates of that." - PA SPORT
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