Andy Murray won in the second round in Washington.

The three-time Grand Slam champion beat Brandon Nakashima. He is hoping to be seated at the US Open, in the top 32, but he does have an opportunity in the next three weeks. He almost retired, due to his massive  injuries four years ago, but now, since he came back, it took him a long time to recover, as he lost a lot of matches. But he kept trying, moving faster, and with some new shots. He also really liked to do in the rallies, backhand to backhand, crosscourt, or down the line. His forehand is very good, all over the place, when it is flat, or when he can spin it, a little bit.  But when he was losing a lot, maybe he was down in the dumps. A lot of players, men and women, have to stop playing for months. Perhaps they were very sad.

“I was in that place, and most of the athletes that I would speak to that are thinking about having this operation are in a pretty bad place, like physically and probably have been in a lot of pain for quite a long time. I spoke to Bob Bryan [the former player] quite a lot about it, which was helpful, probably wish I had had the opportunity to speak to more athletes about it and what that process was like and what the operation, the rehab and I’m able to give  a bit of positivity to those athletes in that situation now,” Murray said. “It is possible to get back to competing and doing the sport that you love after having this surgery.”

Everyone who gets hurt and he or she will return, such as Kei Nishikori and Jennifer Brady, who has been out a long time, and again, the troubling surgeries. At times, they can look 100 percent, on court, but other players can become injured again, and then they have to re-set there bodies. It is very difficult.

“I think it definitely takes time like for the body to get used to playing like multiple matches again at the highest level. There will definitely be some aches and pains,” Murray said.  “That can sometimes be quite hard to deal with mentally, because you forget what it is like to play like the highest level of sport isn’t easy.  You don’t play a match and wake up next day and feel perfect, but when you’ve been out a long time with an injury, understanding what that pain means, like if you wake up the day after playing a match and your back is sore, is that pain because of an injury? Like do I need to back off here? Should I be playing today? Or is it just part of playing and your body getting used to playing, the matches again and competing. Like playing in front of the big crowds again when you have been away from it for a long time, that is different. There is a different pressure and a different intensity to that.”

Murray will have to face Taylor Fritz on Thursday night. The American looks pretty clean, and finally, he looked pretty solid, recently winning Atlanta. Before that, he was not played great this year. However, on the hardcourt, he is more thoughtful. “I did a lot of big emphasis on like the cardio and fitness and just normal training and was able to play last week. Last week was extremely hot, as well, in Atlanta. I think that I’m in just a much better place, for sure,” Fritz said.

In Canada, in Montreal  at the ATP 1000, Fritz crushed Murray 6-1, 6-3. But that was a while ago, so at night in Washington, they will some very long rallies, and change it where he has to. Move forward.

MORE NOTES
Elina Svitolina is once again, on fire, as she crushed Daria Kasatkina in Washington. At Wimbledon, she reached into the semis at Wimbledon. That is pretty darn good.

“I have a lot of experience. You know, now coming back to the tour, starting from zero, I have experience still of playing many years on the high level, and I try just to analyze what I did well and take the best from that years and just build on that.”

Just coming back, Brady was gone for almost two years, another big injury, and on Wednesday, against Madison Keys, she lost very fast . Again, Brady will take it so long to play well again. … In Los Cabos, Tommy Paul took a tough match, but he won over Felipe  Alves.  Now he will go up against Alex de Minaur. That is a draw. Pick em.