The new year has not even been rung in yet, but for Andy Murray the 2014 season has started. The Scot has wasted no time in getting down to business at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, which starts today and will be his first tournament of the new campaign.
Having completed his commitments at an exhibition event along the Gulf coast at Abu Dhabi on Friday, Murray was due to practise last night at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in preparation for his first competition since having a back operation three months ago.
After opting for surgery in the hope of curing the lower-back problem which had troubled him for the previous 18 months, Murray had always aimed to return in time for the start of the new season.
He began his rehabilitation programme at home, where he took advantage of some of the medical facilities just a few minutes' drive away at Chelsea's training ground, and stepped up his work this month at his traditional off-season "boot camp" in Miami.
It was only four weeks ago that the world No4 felt strong enough to start playing points in practice, but his progress was evident last week in Abu Dhabi, where he played two matches against top-10 opponents.
