Andy Murray is scheduled to undergo an MRI on his right knee today, but does not expect the ailing knee will sideline him from this week's Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati.
The ninth-ranked Scot took an injury timeout for treatment on his knee during Saturday night's 7-6(2), 6-3 loss to second-ranked Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Murray, who has posted a 7-2 record in his last nine matches with both losses coming to Nadal, conceded he has been feeling pain, but downplayed the severity of the injury and said he plans to play Cincinnati.
"It's okay. You know, it's something that I've obviously had for quite a long time. Got to try and stay on top of it," Murray said. "It does hurt from time to time in matches. There's a lot of clicking in the knee (against Nadal). When I asked the umpire for the trainer and he said, Is it for your knee? He knew before I even told him that there was a problem there, because I had been limping for two games. He still didn't let me have the trainer. So it's not terrible, but I'll have a scan in Cincinnati on Monday. I should be okay to play there, it's just something I've got to go try and stay on top of, because it's going to be with me my whole life."
The 21-year-old from Dunblane has a first-round bye and is scheduled to face either American Sam Querrey or France's Paul-Henri Mathieu in the second round of Cincinnati. He beat Querrey, 7-5, 6-2, in Newport two years ago and is 2-0 against Mathieu.
Nadal has beaten Murray in all four of their career matches, including a gripping 6-7(3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win in the 2007 Australian Open. Murray said Nadal has improved significantly since their first meeting.
"I mean, Wimbledon, for me, I thought he played great the whole tournament. I think it was his time to win the tournament," Murray said. "I don't feel like I played particularly well. The three times I played him on hard courts, every time has been close matches. You know, we played some awesome points, and he just managed to get me on every occasion.You know, he's definitely doing a lot of things better than he was in the past. I think he's moving better on hard courts, and I think, you know, he's sort of changing the pace of the ball a little bit more and not playing so far behind the baseline like he did in the past. So I think his game, in terms of the way that he hits the ball, hasn't changed a whole a lot. I just think the way that he moves and returns on the quicker courts is much better than it was before. That's why I think he'll be No. 1 in the world soon."
