Andy Murray is preparing for a return to action following injury as the US Open gets underway in New York today.
The three-time grand slam winner, champion at Flushing Meadows in 2012, had to withdraw from this year’s warm-up tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati.
Murray, 36, was unable to serve in practice until this week due to what he revealed turned out to be a torn abdominal muscle, but he is now back fit and firing and ready to make his mark at the top once again.
Murray begins his latest New York campaign against Corentin Moutet, the world number 71 from France, on Tuesday.
If he comes through that, a tasty second-round meeting with Bulgaria’s 19th seed Grigor Dimitrov is on the cards, but the Scot certainly will not be getting ahead of himself.
Moutet was born in Paris on April 19, 1999 and has lived in the capital since. He trains at the National Training Centre at Roland-Garros.
The Parisien turned professional in 2016 and played his first match on the main tour in 2018, at the Australian Open, where he lost in four sets against Andreas Seppi.
Moutet won his first ATP main draw match in February 2018, in Quito, beating the Spaniard, Adrian Menendez-Maceiras.
The Frenchman's best victory of his career to date came in the semi-final of Doha in 2020 against Stan Wawrinka, who at the time was the world No 15.
It was a result that put him into his first ATP Tour final, against Andrey Rublev, who ultimately won the contest. Moutet also counts a prestigious first-round victory at Wimbledon in 2019 as one of his top wins, when he defeated Grigor Dimitrov in five sets, despite losing the first two.
Moutet has also enjoyed success at the US Open when he defeated Wawrinka en route to 2022 fourth round.