Andy Murray, who has won three Grand Slam titles, said on Wednesday that he is “still going in the right direction” and is determined to end a “up and down” year on a high note.

The 36-year-old former world number one was talking at the Zhuhai Championships in China, just a few days after helping Britain beat Switzerland in the Davis Cup.

He told the crowd at Manchester Arena on Friday, after beating Leandro Riedi, that he had missed his grandmother’s funeral to play tennis.

Murray, who is now number 41 in the world, said of his year so far, “Look, I would have liked it to have gone better, for sure.”There have been some good times, but there have also been some hard losses,” said Murray, who had surgery in 2019 that saved his career and now plays with a metal hip.

His loss in five sets to fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of Wimbledon, when he was ahead and the match had to go into the next day because of a tournament limit, still hurts.

Murray hurt his stomach at the Canadian Open last month. He lost to Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the second round of the US Open, where he had won before.

Murray felt like he had a great start to 2023 and made it to the final in Qatar. He said, “It’s been up and down.”

“I got to my highest ranking since my hip surgery a few weeks ago. That’s good, and it shows that even though my progress isn’t as fast as I’d like, I’m still going in the right direction.”I have a chance to have a strong finish to the year with these last five or six events, so that’s what I’m looking for here.”

Murray’s last ATP title came in 2019. In his first match in Zhuhai, he will play Chinese wild card Mo Yecong.

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