he final time Andy Murray performed Grigor Dimitrov, the Scot was on his method to topping the rankings for the primary time, profitable virtually all the pieces within the second half of 2016 to complete the yr on high of the world.

Little did he know on the time that, a yr later, his hip would begin to trigger a lot ache that, in 2019, it appeared as if he must retire from tennis.

Murray’s subsequent operation, and the insertion of a steel hip, has been properly documented.

Since then, he has hauled himself again contained in the world’s high 40 via dedication, onerous work and the bloody-mindedness that took him to the highest within the first place.

As he prepares to face Dimitrov for the twelfth time — he leads their head-to-head 8-3 — Murray is aware of that the Bulgarian is able to producing nice issues when he's on his recreation, simply as he did at Wimbledon in 2014.

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Dimitrov beat Murray in straight units within the quarter-finals when the Scot was defending his title. Champions are infamous for his or her short-term reminiscence loss, nonetheless, and Murray mentioned that loss was not that tough to take.

“I remember that I was struggling a lot in 2014,” the 36-year-old mentioned. “I’d had back surgery at the end of 2013. That year was pretty tough for me, I think I dropped out the top 10 after that match.

“I don’t remember much about the match itself, I just know that that early part of 2014 was hard for me. I’d won Wimbledon and then back operations are not easy to recover from.

“I believe I stopped working with Ivan [Lendl] as well, so there had been quite a lot of changes. I don’t remember loads about the match, I just know I wasn’t playing that well that year up to that point.”

But Murray, the world No37, appeared good in his straight-sets first-round victory over Frenchman Corentin Moutet on Tuesday and, as fellow Briton Dan Evans mentioned: “Andy’s playing well, there’s no doubt about it.”

Interestingly, Dimitrov doesn't single out that Wimbledon win as his favorite victory over Murray. Instead, he chooses their semi-final in Acapulco earlier the identical yr, when he gained the match in a deciding tie-break.

“It is easy to play when you are in the zone,” Dimitrov mentioned, pointing to the Wimbledon victory. “It was a straight-sets win. However, I think the one in Acapulco, where I felt like it was a very hard-fought one, that is the one that sticks out.”