Andy Murray: "I'm amazed how quickly Elina Svitolina's come back, examples like that will encourage more players to take breaks in their career"
Andy Murray congratulated Elina Svitolina on her incredible results so soon after taking a pregnancy break.
The Ukrainian tennis player took an extended break to have a child with fellow tennis player Gael Monfils. Svitolina was inactive from March 2022 to April 2023, almost immediately getting back to the top of the tour after coming back.
After a couple of shaky tournaments, the 28-year-old from Odesa won the Strasbourg Open and reached the quarterfinals of the French Open a little more than a week later.
She then lost to Linda Fruhvirtova in the first round of the Birmingham Open but managed to reach the semifinals of Wimbledon, losing to the eventual champion Marketa Vondrousova, 3-6, 3-6.
"I'm amazed, like, how well Svitolina, how quickly she's come back and playing at such a good level so soon after having kids is amazing," Andy Murray said during the Citi Open in Washington.
The three-time Grand Slam champion said that he hopes Svitolina's example will encourage more female players to follow her path to motherhood.
"I think having examples like that, I think, will probably, if the players want to do it, encourage more players to potentially take breaks in their career. Wozniacki is coming back, as well. It will be interesting how she does. If that's something that they choose to do, yeah, I wish them all well," the Brit added.
Murray also talked about how easier it is for men to have a child while professionally playing tennis.
"After we had our first kid, I was back competing again after a few weeks. Obviously, you know, we're not going through the pregnancy as well or the recovery from that, our careers are really not disrupted at all," he said.
"It does change things that, you know, a little bit for me, like, from where I train and, you know, a little bit from a travel perspective as well. Things have changed a bit. But, yeah, I have been able to pretty much continue my career with not many disruptions," Murray added.
Andy Murray: I was in a terrible place in 2018
Andy Murray remembered the hardships he had to go through in 2018 caused by injuries and bad results.
Murray recently won his first match in Washington after five years, defeating Brandon Nakashima 7-6(5), 6-4 in the first round of the tournament.
During the press conference after the match, the Brit was asked about how he felt this time five years ago.
"Yeah, 2018 was pretty, yeah, it was a tough tournament for me, that one. Yeah, mentally and physically. Yeah, I was in a terrible place, really," Murray stated.
"I didn't really want to play anymore, like, after that. I was just getting really not much enjoyment after that. I won some amazing matches that week but I felt awful," the 36-year-old added.
Murray has since then had a metal hip installed and can play tennis without much pain nowadays, but he still remembers how he felt five years ago.
"I wasn't able to enjoy the wins, because, I couldn't sleep in the evenings after the matches because of my hip and everything. It's nice to be back and not having any of those issues and being pain-free, and still competing at a high level," Andy Murray said.
"It's been a long, long journey these last four, five years. But happy to still be going," he added.