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 The 26-year-old world number four called an early end to his 2013
season after playing a Davis Cup tie in mid-September to have
surgery on his lower back.
Murray has been trying to lower expectations as he begins his
comeback from injury and was not too concerned at losing his first
match in the Mubadala world tennis championships event at Zayed
Sports City.
"I moved well in the first set, especially once I got into the
rallies," he told the National newspaper after a 7-5 6-3 defeat to
French world number 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Thursday.
"I didn't feel slow at all. In the second, I slowed down slightly,
but that's something that is going to get better by playing matches.
I can't expect to feel great for long periods of matches
straightaway.
"But it was a good workout. You want to play your best, but you need
to be realistic and patient. I will play better tomorrow than I did
today.
"I was hitting the ball okay, moving well for the most
part. Moving is the most important thing. I just need to be able to
do it for a longer period. I just felt like I hadn't played a match
for a while."
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Murray missed this year's French Open due to a back injury
but recovered in time to become the first British man to win
Wimbledon for 77 years.
The Scot lost his U.S. Open title in a quarter-final defeat to
Stan Wawrinka and then played in Britain's world group playoff
against Croatia before deciding to have the operation.
He has spent the intervening months in Florida recuperating and
will make his return to the ATP tour at next week's Qatar Open
in Doha.
"Some parts of it were nice. I got to spend a lot of time at
home, which is something we don't get to do much," he said of
the layoff.
"It wasn't that difficult for me, mentally, to be sitting
because it wasn't like I was playing one day and twisted my
ankle and couldn't play or my back just went one day. I feel
fresher."
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; editing by John O'Brien)
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