Grand Slam winner Andy Murray is set to grace our screens once again on Tuesday with the return of Queen’s.
The former world No. 1 will take on Australia’s Alexei Popyrin who climbed into the world’s top 50 for the first time earlier this year.
Glasgow-born Andy is arguably one of the greatest British male tennis stars of all time. Aside from winning Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, he is also a two-time Olympic gold medalist and won the US Open in 2012.
Despite his phenomenal success, Andy has also been battling with a sore hip over the last decade – a health problem which ultimately forced the star to take time away from his sport in 2017. In 2019, the tennis player underwent hip resurfacing surgery after he revealed that he’d been in “a lot of pain for about 20 months.”
He has since made an impressive recovery and has gone on to participate in numerous tournaments across the world. As he gears up for Queen’s, join us as we take a closer look at his gruelling fitness regime…
Strength training and Gyrotonic exercises
Andy is a huge fan of Gyrotonic exercises – a system of exercise invented by gymnast and dancer Juliu Horvath characterised by flowing movements and circular sequences.
He told Men’s Health: “Earlier in my career I used to spend a lot of time practising my tennis on court. Now I’ve learned that it’s better to do just a couple of hours on court and two gym sessions a day. That’s what’s made me fitter and stronger. For much of the year, you’re just trying to maintain your fitness. It’s not often you get time to really concentrate on improving it.”
Meanwhile, in 2016, he told the publication: “I don’t do much running now. I stopped after the problems with my back. After my surgery I did more cardio work on the court. Before I came here today, I was doing Gyrotonics, which has made a huge difference to my life, actually. Not just my tennis but to what I can and can’t do. I still do Pilates, but a lot of it is straight lines. With Gyrotonics there is more twisting and turning, the kind of movements I use in tennis.”
Andy’s varied diet
Speaking to Men’s Health, he shared: “There was a period, when I was younger and trying to put weight on, when I was looking at my calories. These days I just try to maintain my weight. I feel most comfortable at 84kg… My body fat is around 9-10%. It’s what I want. When I tried the gluten-free diet, I dropped like 5kg in the space of a few weeks, and had no energy.”
In 2016, Andy shared a glimpse into his breakfast routine. Prior to clinching victory over Nick Kyrgios, the father-of-four said he’d eaten a bagel with scrambled eggs, half a bagel with peanut butter, a banana and berry smoothie, and an entire Cantaloupe melon. He also had a pre-match meal consisting of salmon and rice, and a post-match meal of pasta with broccoli and chicken.
Meanwhile, during a chat with Men’s Health in 2018, he added: “I used to have quite a few smoothies. Banana raspberry, yoghurt, maybe some orange juice, but I was told that’s too much sugar. Now there’s much more spinach and kale in there… It’s apparently much better for you. Not as nice, but I put up with it!”
Acclimatising
As a global tennis champ, Andy frequently travels abroad to take part in a plethora of tournaments. Whilst he was gearing up for the Citi Open in Washington last year, he explained in a press conference how he adjusted to the heat by training in a steam room.
“So in preparation I was doing a lot of bike sessions,” he divulged. “I put the bike in there and we can open the steam room a little bit to increase the humidity – obviously [turn on] the heaters to get the heat in the room up.
“Set it to like 35 degrees celsius and, like, 70 per-cent humidity and then I would do my bike sessions in there.”
Ice baths
The tennis star is a huge fan of ice baths which are renowned for their ability to speed up muscle recovery and reduce inflammation.
Back in 2017, Andy wrote a column for the BBC in which he shared a sneak-peek inside his Wimbledon training regime.Â
On the subject of ice baths, he said: “It’s lucky I don’t mind an ice bath because I’ve been having one before bed every night just to make sure I’m fit and ready for Wimbledon… It might not be everyone’s ideal preparation for a good night’s sleep, but fortunately I’ve got used to plunging myself into ice-cold water over the years and I don’t mind it, I’m OK.”