Andy Murray said his body felt the best it had “in a very long time”, but he still needed to improve his game if he was to compete regularly in the later stages of the tournaments.
Murray, who has battled various injuries in recent years, reached the second round of the Cincinnati Open on Monday with a 7-6(3) 5-7 7-5 win over Stan Wawrinka.
It was the Scotsman’s 37th match on the ATP Tour this year, the most he has managed to get since 2016.
“As far as how I’ve stopped after games and things have been the best I’ve felt in a very long time,” Murray told reporters.
“So that’s good. I would like my tennis to be better sometimes, because I’m still convinced that it can be better than where it is now.
“It hasn’t been easy in recent years to stay fit and healthy and to play enough tennis… It’s a positive thing that I’ve been able to play a lot of matches or more this year.”
While Murray reached the finals of the Stuttgart and Sydney tournaments this year, he lost his opening matches at the Canadian Masters and Citi Open and retired in the second round of Wimbledon.
The 35-year-old said the early outings made it difficult for him to take a break and recharge his batteries.
“My team and I hope to be able to get to that level again where I’m consistently reaching the later stages of events. We can better plan and schedule my tournaments,” Murray said.
“Right now I have to play and compete to try and maintain the rankings and hopefully get ranked in the events and get into more tournaments, not having to rely on wildcards. So yeah, that’s a difficult balance.”
Next up for two-time Cincinnati winner Murray is an all-British battle with ninth seed Cameron Norrie.