Andy Murray ditches Head and turns to Yonex tennis rackets – despite impending retirement

Andy Murray is set to make his return from injury in Bordeaux - BNPPprimrose

Is Andy Murray really ready to hang up his tennis shoes this summer? He recently suggested that “I am looking forward to the end now” – but then he goes and does something unexpected, like taking a new racket to Bordeaux for this week’s Challenger event.

After 20 years with the same HEAD Radical racket, this was a left-field move. Murray’s management team say he has been practising with a Yonex in Bordeaux, after the HEAD deal lapsed. According to one racket expert, the new model “should give him a bigger sweet spot and thus more access to power”.

Changing racket so late in your career is a bold call, especially as it can take weeks or even months to adapt.

Some professionals have signed profitable deals with new racket companies and then seen their form go to pieces. Others camouflage their rackets, so that they might be playing with a Wilson, say, that is made up to look like a Dunlop.

In Murray’s case, insiders suggest that he has been experimenting with different models within the HEAD stable for a while, but now that he is out of contract, he wanted to try something different.

He could certainly do with a little more pop in his strings, because Murray’s ball speed has been low by tour standards since he made his comeback from “resurfacing” surgery on his right hip.

On Wednesday, Murray is due to play his first match since he ruptured ankle ligaments in Miami, just over seven weeks ago. He has entered a clay-court Challenger in Bordeaux, with a view to playing in Geneva next week and then the French Open the week after.

It also emerged on Tuesday that he has entered the Surbiton Challenger, a grass-court event that coincides with the second week at Roland Garros. Although he once reached the French Open final, losing to Novak Djokovic in 2016, he clearly doesn’t see himself going too far in this year’s event.

Now ranked at No 77, Murray started this season poorly before showing signs of better form in Miami. But just as he appeared to be turning a corner, he went over on his ankle during a lengthy battle against Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic.

Barring another change of heart – which is possible, given Murray’s indecisive nature – he intends to compete at Queen’s and Wimbledon before putting in one final Olympic appearance in July. Returning to Paris for the Games, he is expected to play doubles alongside Joe Salisbury.

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