ANDY Murray is ready to enjoy the struggle of trying to get back to his best and has no doubt it will happen.
The world No 1 goes into the French Open with just five wins under his belt since February.
Murray cut a frustrated figure in practice yesterday, shaking his head and throwing his racket, and made no attempt to disguise his difficulties in a thoughtful press conference.
He said: “The last few months have not been good, obviously. I haven’t played well. I had a few issues, as well. I need to accept that I’m struggling and then find a way to get through it.
“I will get through it, I’m sure of that. When that happens, I don’t know. Hopefully it happens in a few days. If it doesn’t, maybe it happens during the grass.
“But the only way to get through it is to work your way through it, keep working on your game, try and understand what’s not been going right.
“Although it’s very frustrating, you have to try to enjoy this part of what we do as well because the struggles are part of what make the good times so enjoyable.
“I need to enjoy my struggle a little bit just now and that will help me get through it quicker, I believe.”
Illness and injury have disrupted Murray’s season and contributed to a lack of rhythm, and the Scot has again been under the weather on the eve of this tournament.
The 30-year-old was unable to practise on Monday and has a lingering cough but insisted he will be ready for his first-round match against Russian Andrey Kuznetsov.
Murray was diagnosed with shingles on his return home from the Australian Open and was laid low by a virus in March before having to pull out of the Miami Open with an elbow injury.
He said: “It’s been frustrating, obviously, because it’s the third time this year where I’ve missed days or been in bed for a few days. To be honest, it should happen more really, considering the amount that we travel and stuff, how long the season is. I have been pretty lucky with that over the last couple of years.
“So maybe they have just come in a small space of time. But I feel OK now. I will be all good when the tournament starts.”
Murray spoke earlier this week of a struggle for motivation since the remarkable run of wins at the end of last season that took him to the top of the standings.
He compared it to the feelings after he won his first Wimbledon title in 2013 but declared himself fully motivated for this tournament.
“I have been training as well as I could the last few months,” he said. “Just maybe in a couple of matches it’s been a little bit flat.
“That’s where it is very important that when you do achieve something big, like when I won Wimbledon the first time, I felt like that was why I was playing, really. And I had achieved my biggest goal. You feel a bit lost afterwards.
“You need to then reset your goals and maybe at times there has been a little bit of that.
“But I’m motivated just now. If I wasn’t, when I wasn’t feeling well for a few days, I wouldn’t have been out on the court, I would have stayed in bed. I want to get through this.”
Murray has been reunited with coach Ivan Lendl this week having not spent significant time with the 57-year-old since Australia in January.
In Lendl’s absence, Murray has had assistant Jamie Delgado by his side, and he was quick to point out how well that arrangement worked last year.
“The reason we’re talking about it is I haven’t been playing well,” he said.
“But the end of last year between Wimbledon and the O2, I saw Ivan for two weeks and I played great. It’s not his fault. I’m very happy with the team I have around me when he isn’t there.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here