Murray feels way back into action

Andy Murray, who has not hit a tennis ball in anger for more than 40 days, says he has no great expectations as he returns to competition at the Valencia Open this week.

The 22-year-old has not played since aggravating an injury to his left wrist by playing in Britain's Davis Cup defeat to Poland in Liverpool in September.

After pulling out of tournaments in Tokyo and Shanghai last month, Murray (right) believes his inflamed wrist is now sufficiently better for him to play in the concluding weeks of the season. From Valencia, where he is the top seed, Murray will head to Paris for next week's final Masters Series tournament before returning to London for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals later this month.

"My wrist is fine," Murray said yesterday as he prepared for his first match in Valencia, against the Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver. "I've played two matches in about nine weeks since the US Open, so I'll just try and ease my way in. Normally it takes a bit of time to get back into playing your best, but I feel good."

This week's tournament gives the Scot a chance to make up some of the ground he lost in the rankings, having ceded his world No 3 position to Novak Djokovic last month.