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.”
A typical training day
Chatting to 220 in 2021, Andy shared: “A typical day’s training for me includes physio at 9am to start the day, followed by a warm-up with my strength and conditioning coach.
“This usually lasts half an hour, then it’s onto the tennis court with my team until lunchtime. After lunch, I’ll head to the gym for some strength or mobility work, have another physio session after that and am usually finished by about 6pm. It’s a long day but we have a lot to fit in.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Andy revealed how he uses a VersaClimber as a form of cardio exercise. The VersaClimber is a machine which combines zero impact, high intensity, vertical cardio with resistance training. It’s thought to be one of the most effective ways to burn calories and build strength.
Beyond this, Andy also uses resistance bungees and performs sprint drills on a beach volleyball court to bolster strength in the legs and core.
Fitness guru Jez Green has been credited with transforming Andy’s fitness. The pair used to train in Miami during the winter, with Green focussing on the tennis player’s movements before building a training plan.
Speaking about their training, Jez previously said: “I’ve been training Andy for five years, and I still find it hard to believe all the things that he can do. He is naturally fast, but he is also so strong: on his best day he can do 27 pull ups, and push 500 pounds on the leg-press.
“He could probably run 53 to 55 seconds for 400 metres if he trained for 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.
man taking ice bath© Instagram
The athlete enjoys taking an icy dip after a workout
Back in 2017, Andy wrote a column for the BBC in which he shared a sneak-peek inside his Wimbledon training regime.
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.”
