Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray has shared his thoughts on Tour mate Roger Federer’s comeback next week. The 20-time Grand Slam winner, who has been away from competitive tennis for over a year since undergoing knee surgery, will return to action at the ATP Doha event later this month.

Andy Murray says he understands the “difficult time” Roger Federer went through

Himself on a comeback trail since returning from hip surgery, Murray made a quarter-final exit at the Rotterdam Open on Thursday. The 33-year-old Scot lost in straight sets to rising Russian star Andrey Rublev.

On whether he has “sympathy” for the Swiss ace, given that he has been out for 13 months amid growing chatter around his future in the game, Murray said that he does appreciate, from his own experiences, how difficult it must have been for the 39-year-old to regain full fitness.

“I think obviously, he’s gone through, you know, a difficult time for the last year and had the second knee surgery and stuff. So yeah, like from that aspect,” said the Scot, in his response to the “sympathy” question.

Andy Murray backs Roger Federer to “be the same” on comeback at ATP Doha

Andy added that while he would never wish his rivals to endure injury episodes like he or Federer has had to, he wouldn’t look for “sympathy” from his opponents as he is happy to be out there, competing for titles again.

“I would imagine that Roger would be the same and I’m sure he’s been training hard, he’s excited to get back out there and compete,” Murray said, adding that “he doesn’t need any advice”.

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He added that once Federer puts his body through the rigors again and feels good about himself, he will play “top-level tennis again” as he is “that good”.

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The Scot said that even if Federer isn’t physically where he needs to be, he would back his “skills” against most rivals any day.