Andy Murray is worlds away from the player who caused major shake-up last time in Beijing

Andy Murray will make his return in Beijing, four years after he came into the tournament ranked outside of the world’s top 500 following hip surgery.

Andy Murray will make his return in Beijing this week – four years after the tournament was last staged. The Asian swing has returned to the tennis calendar in full for the first time since 2019. And Murray is now worlds away from the player he was last time he contested the China Open.

At the time, the Brit was just months out of surgery, sitting outside of the top 500 and needing a protected ranking to enter. He has since been ranked as high as No 36 in the world and picked up titles on the ATP and Challenger Tours.

Murray had only just made his return to singles competition when he competed at the China Open four years ago. The 36-year-old underwent hip resurfacing surgery in January 2019, returning to the doubles court in June and the singles in August

He was ranked at No 503 in the world coming into Beijing and had just three singles wins at tour level and Challenger level since his surgery. In the first round, he stunned eighth seed Matteo Berrettini before following it up with victory over compatriot Cameron Norrie, losing to eventual champion Dominic Thiem in the quarter-final

It was a strong showing that saw Murray climb to No 289 in the world and springboarded him to go on and win the title in Antwerp later that season. When the three-time Major champion returns to Beijing this week, he will be back as a completely different player.