If there is one thing that can safely be said of Andy Murray as he begins his quest for a sixth title of 2009 in Valencia today, it is that he will be fresh. The Scot has not played competitively for six weeks, since he put Davis Cup duty above the health of his left wrist, which had been bothering him since shortly before the US Open at the end of August.

The enforced layoff has meant that he missed tournaments in Tokyo and Shanghai and slipped two spots to No 4 in the world rankings, but after a long season that has yielded five titles, the rest may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. While he will take every precaution to ensure that there is no recurrence of the injury in the Valencia Open and next week at the Masters 1000 event in Paris, Murray will be much less tired than most of his rivals as he heads towards the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London this month.

Comparing Murray to a horse may not be the most obvious way of welcoming the 22-year-old back to the tour but, to use racing parlance, as well as possessing plenty of pace, Murray goes well when fresh. Of his 13 ATP Tour titles, eight have come when he has had at least one week off beforehand. Of those eight, seven have come when he has had at least a fortnight between events.

One or two such wins could be considered a coincidence, but eight suggests that Murray hits the ground running. Although returning from injury is a nervy time for any player, let alone one who had three months off with a wrist problem (albeit his right wrist) in 2007, Murray clearly does not take long to get into his stride, whatever the opposition. The last time he had an enforced layoff, when a virus caused him to miss the Davis Cup tie against Ukraine in March, he then reached the final in Indian Wells.

The field at the Masters 1000 event there was far stronger than the one here this week and — with respect to Nikolay Davydenko, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco and Gaël Monfils — if Murray plays to his ability, he should go well, not least because seven of his 13 titles have come indoors, where he is arguably the best player in the world.

Statistics are one thing and performing is another, of course, which explains why Murray has been at pains to play down talk that he is favourite for the title here, even if he describes his wrist as “fine”. “I don’t have that many expectations for the next couple of weeks,” Murray said. “I’ve played two matches in about eight weeks since the US Open, so I’ve just got to try, I guess, to ease my way in. Normally it takes a bit of time to get back into playing your best, but I feel good.”

His first assignment comes today against Daniel Gimeno-Traver, the local wild card. The Spaniard beat Murray in their only previous meeting, although it was on clay in 2005 when Murray was only just beginning to make the transition from the junior ranks. “I know him a bit from the juniors — he is a good player, solid,” Murray said. “He’s a couple of years older than me and has come through a bit later but it’ll be a tough match. I think he’s played well the last month, so I’ll have to see how it goes. I wouldn’t be surprised if I played poorly but I’ll try and play my best.”

Murray has an added incentive this week, for he can eat into the gap between himself and Novak Djokovic in the rankings. The Serb has a stack of points to defend in London this month and victory here would put the world No 3 within Murray’s sights.

Easy does it

Murray has been at his best when returning from a break, as shown by eight of his 13 ATP titles

San Jose, 2006 Had one week off before tournament
San Jose, 2007 Two weeks off
Doha, 2008 First week of year
Marseilles, 2008 Three weeks off
Madrid, 2008 Three weeks off
Doha, 2009 First week of year
Rotterdam, 2009 Two weeks off
Montreal, 2009 One month off