Andy Murray’s career has been in the balance over the last two years as injury blighted his ability to play regular events.
In an emotional press conference at the Australian Open in January he suggested he may even retire this year.
However after hip surgery he returned to action at Queen’s, playing doubles with Feliciano Lopez and winning the Wimbledon warm up event.
He also played at Wimbledon in the men’s and mixed doubles and looked in good condition.
Murray has taken time off since then but has confirmed he will play at the Citi Open in Washington with his brother Jamie and suggested he may be ready to start playing singles again in the coming weeks.
“I’m closer than maybe what I thought I was,” he said.
Murray added that a return to the hard courts in August was in his sights, and if not, then he would wait until after the US Open.
He said: “Best-case scenario probably would be Cincinnati. And then if I wasn’t able to play in Cincinnati, there’s a good chance I would probably wait until after New York, because I wouldn’t want my first tournament, either, to be playing best-of-five.”
Murray’s last Grand Slam appearance in singles events was on the hard courts of Melbourne, where he was dispatched in the first round by quarter-finalist Roberto Bautista Agut in four sets.
But his performances with Serena Williams at Wimbledon gave hope that a return was on the cards.
The Murray brothers last played together at the Rio Olympics, but were a prolific partnership during Great Britain’s 2015 Davis Cup victory, while they have won two ATP Tour titles together, in Tokyo in 2011 and Valencia the year before.
Jamie is the defending champion at Washington, having won the tournament last year with Bruno Soares.
Jamie, writing in his column for the BBC last week, expressed his excitement at teaming up with his brother.
“We complement each other well on the court,” he wrote.
“His return is amazing and that can give me a lot of action up at the net, and when I’m there I can also help him out on his serve.
“We know each other’s games and I guess, because we are brothers, we are able to communicate that bit better and have more honesty than other partnerships.
“At the end of the day, partners can fall out but the difference with us being brothers is that we will always make up, so it makes it a lot easier.
“That’s probably the reason the Bryan brothers, who have won 16 Grand Slam titles together, have been so successful over the years, because of that family bond and the natural communication they are able to have.
“It’s all fun, I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully we can have a good week there.”
