James Duckworth may not come out on the winning side against Andy Murray at the US Open on Monday but he leads the former world number one 5-1 when it comes to recent operations.
The two lowest-ranked players in the men’s draw will clash on Louis Armstrong Stadium in a first-round battle that will be closely observed by the whole tournament.
That is primarily to do with Murray, of course, who will finally make his return to grand slam tennis more than a year after hip problems showed themselves at Wimbledon last summer.
Since the start of 2017, the Australian has undergone three operations to fix a stress fracture in his foot as well as surgery on his shoulder and elbow.
“The foot was the biggest thing,” he said. “For most of the last year I couldn’t run, jump or hop. It was only really after I had my last surgery that the foot started to feel good and I could run around the court. You don’t really appreciate those things until they’re gone.
“It’s been pretty rough but probably the last month or so the body’s starting to feel pretty good. We’re both trying to get back and get into playing matches day in, day out. It can be a tough road.”
Without a single victory over a top-20 player to his name, Duckworth knows he is a big underdog even though this is not yet close to the Murray who won three grand slam titles.
“My best chance probably would have been at Queen’s when it was his first week back but it’s the first round, he hasn’t played a best-of-five-sets match for a long time,” said Duckworth. “I’ve definitely got a better chance now but it’s still going to be an uphill battle.”
Four of Britain’s five singles players begin their campaigns on Monday. Kyle Edmund, who has taken over from Murray as British number one, takes on Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi while Cameron Norrie will look to continue his apparently relentless upward march against Australian Jordan Thompson.
An exciting schedule on Arthur Ashe Stadium begins with Grigor Dimitrov and Stan Wawrinka’s second successive grand slam meeting, followed by a clash between two former US Open champions, Venus Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal headline the night session while world number one Simona Halep and defending champion Sloane Stephens are also in action.
