British tennis maestro Andy Murray, who took a break of more than two weeks after suffering an elbow injury last month at Indian Wells, has revealed that he is feeling 'absolutely fine' and believes his serve is "getting better" as he prepares for the traditional start to the European clay-court season in Monte Carlo.
Murray, who has endured a mixed start to 2017 season after soaring to the top of the world rankings, remains optimistic about the state of his injury ahead of stepping onto the clay this week.
"When I had the injury, I had to take two and a half weeks off serving. When I started serving again, I had to progress very slowly, but in the last couple of days I've been serving pretty much close to the speed that I would normally. My elbow has reacted well, so I feel good about it," the Independent quoted Murray as saying.
"I don't feel more tired than usual. I'm training really well. I've got lots of tournaments coming up, so I'm looking forward to it," said Murray, who enjoyed the best clay-court run of his career, winning the Rome title and finishing runner-up at both Madrid and Roland Garros.
While 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer is not looking forward to play on clay until the French Open, all the other leading tennis stars are launching their clay-court campaigns here at the Monte Carlo Masters, including Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
The world number one admitted that although he might not perform at his menacing best in the upcoming tournament, his expectations through the rest of the clay-court season are quite high.
"By the French Open I would not think my expectations would be any different this year. Maybe this week they would be slightly lower, but I think my expectations through the rest of the clay-court season are quite high," he added.
Murray, who was forced to miss Britain's recent Davis Cup tie against France, had earlier recovered sufficiently to face Federer last week in an exhibition match in Zurich in aid of the Australian Open champion's charitable foundation.
He will now be hoping to go one better in the Monte Carlo after reaching the semi-finals of the tournament in 2009, 2011 and 2016.
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