Andy Murray contemplates playing Davis Cup tie in Glasgow

Andy Murray left the US Open weighing up whether to squeeze one last Davis Cup trip to Glasgow into his long-term recovery plans.

The former world number one was beaten in the second round of his comeback grand slam in New York by Fernando Verdasco on Wednesday evening.

Murray is not scheduled to return to ATP Tour action until September 24 at the Shenzhen Open, which will be followed by the China Open in Beijing, and he has already said he will play relatively sparingly to avoid stressing his troublesome hip.

The changes coming into effect next season mean the number of ties Britain will host is set to be much reduced, with potentially several years between home matches.

Murray said to the BBC: “I’d have to chat to my team because this is obviously a very important period in my rehab and my long-term strategy.

“Playing five sets takes a lot out of you, which I’ve obviously learned in the last couple of days, and the Davis Cup has also taken a lot out of me. But there’s a big part of me that would love to play and get the opportunity to play one last time in Glasgow.”

Murray has had some of the most memorable moments of his career in the Davis Cup and in Glasgow in particular, and one option would be just to play doubles with brother Jamie.

Davis Cup captain Leon Smith told Press Association Sport: “First and foremost he’ll have to speak to his team and see how he feels. He’ll for sure want to do some physical work again.

“I’m due to speak to him again over the next two or three days. If there’s a chance he can be part of it in any capacity then it would be absolutely amazing.”

Smith, a important figure in Murray’s career for 20 years, was very encouraged by what he saw against Verdasco.

“It’s another really good step forwards for him to come here and get two really tough matches in really tough conditions,” said Smith. “I thought there were really good moments where he was being offensive but, when he needed to move, his court coverage was really good.

“You see his energy on court and he’s clearly loving competing again. He’ll know there’s some way to go but there’s no doubt he’s making good progress.”

Verdasco had played Murray 14 times previously and beaten him only once. Asked about the differences in the Scot’s game, Verdasco said: “Obviously he’s not with the same confidence when he was top four. But that’s normal.

“He made more double faults maybe than he used to. Obviously with the serve he is not with the same confidence. Moving to the forehand, he has more, I think, pain or he is maybe scared of the hip.”

Murray is well aware he needs to be patient but at times the frustration threatened to boil over, which is a sign both of how intensely the fire still burns and how difficult this process is.

He said: “I didn’t have any expectations to win this event. But then when I come off the court and I’ve made some of the mistakes I did in the first set, which potentially could have made the match very different – I get frustrated at that.

“I was trying to play more offensively, and I made more mistakes than I usually would. It’s difficult to always make the right decisions. It’s something that is going to take a bit of time getting used to again.”