By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Three years ago, Andy Murray hobbled out of the Australian Open betrayed by a bad hip and convinced retirement was imminent.
These days, a revitalized Murray is moving much better and carries a much more optimistic outlook to his Melbourne return next week.
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Five-time Australian Open finalist Murray tuned up for Oz winning seven of the last eight games dismissing qualifier Viktor Durasovic 6-3, 6-1 in his Sydney Tennis Classic opener on Ken Rosewall Arena. Murray advanced to a Sydney round of 16 clash vs. second-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili in an intriguing match of finesse vs. firepower.
The two-time Olympic gold medal champion cites a trifecta of goals he aims to attain in 2022.
Murray, who registered his 692nd career win in Sydney, is playing for his 700th career victory, a 50-match win season a year after going 15-14 and to make a deep run in one of the four Grand Slams.
"I have some sort of smaller goals and some sort of bigger ones," Murray told the media in Sydney. "I want, like a short-term one is to try and get to 700 match wins on tour, which I'm hoping I'll be able to do this year, and, you know, I want to try and get to 50 tournament wins.
"I want to try and have a deep run in one of the majors, as well. Hopefully more than one, but, you know, that's what I want to do. So, yeah, we'll see how it goes."
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