Henman backs Murray's 'patience' in 'taking time to recover from injury'

Former tennis player Tim Henman has said that he is encouraged by Andy Murray's recovery from back surgery but believes the Wimbledon champion is right to be cautious about his chances of playing at the Australian Open.

According to The Scotsman, Murray went under the knife in September in an attempt to cure a problem that had been affecting him for 18 months, forcing him to pull out of this year's French Open.

The 26-year-old has not played since helping Great Britain reach the Davis Cup World Group with victory over Croatia and will miss next week's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, the report said.

The plan is for Murray to head to Miami in a couple of weeks' time for his annual pre-season training camp, which should give him plenty of time to get ready for the Australian Open in January, the report added.

However, the Scot has been careful not to set any unrealistic targets and said this week he will only travel to Melbourne if he feels he is in good enough shape to have a chance of winning the tournament, according to the report.

Henman said that he had seen a fair bit of Murray in the last month and it seemed like he was making good progress, adding that he likes what he sees but it is very important that the Scot does not come back until he is 100 percent.