Andy Murray to end season and focus on 'long period of training and reconditioning'

Andy Murray has clarified his plans for the rest of 2018, explaining that he will play just two more tour events – in Shenzhen next week and Beijing the week after that – before shutting his season down.

This should not, however, be taken as evidence of a setback in training. Murray sounded upbeat in a video post released on his Facebook page at midday today, during which he spoke of encouraging progress in his arduous road back from January’s hip surgery.

“I’m obviously over in China just now,” Murray told his fans on Facebook. “I’m competing this week in Shenzhen and then next week in Beijing before calling an end to the year competitively. I’m gonna miss the last couple of tournaments of the year because I’ve decided along with my team that I need a long period of training and reconditioning to get myself in the best shape possible for the beginning of the 2019 season and to get myself back competing for the biggest tournaments again.

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“So unfortunately I won’t be competing after Asia but I am looking forward to getting some hard training done and making some more improvements. It’s been really positive the last few months, I feel like I have made big strides forward in the rehab from the hip surgery and I feel like with another strong training period I’ll make some big improvements.”

Murray has played only nine competitive matches during the 2018 season to date, winning five and losing four. The limp that dogged him throughout last year has not completely resolved itself, and tends to resurface if he spends a significant amount of time on court. But he showed hints of his old self at last month's US Open, particularly in the fourth set of a feisty encounter against world No. 32 Fernando Verdasco.

During that tournament, Murray also revealed that he had been spending seven hours a day rehabbing his troublesome hip. Rather than returning home to Surrey after his second-round exit, he flew back to Philadelphia, which became a training base throughout the summer. It is not wholly clear why this is such an appealing venue, though there is clearly a suitable facility for pool-based rehab, and Murray is also understood to be working with a specialist in the field.

After five tournaments this year, Murray has lifted his ranking to No. 308 in the world. He will open his Shenzhen campaign against Zhizhen Zhang, a Chinese wild card who stands at No. 341 on the ladder. A win would earn him a meeting with top seed David Goffin in the round of 16.