Andy Murray back with a win after mum-in-law asks him to pull his pants down so she could diagnose shingles
ANDY MURRAY refused to let his opponent pull his pants down in his comeback match.
But the world No 1 admitted he had obeyed his mother-in-law’s command to do exactly that.
Murray beat Malek Jaziri 6-4 6-1 in Dubai in his first action since a shock fourth-round exit at the Australian Open, which was followed by a bout of shingles.
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And after his victory, the Scot revealed the embarrassing circumstances in which Leonore Sears, mum of wife Kim, had helped diagnose the condition.
Murray said: “I had a little bit of a rash on my bum around to my stomach and it wasn’t terrible. I didn’t think much of it at the beginning and then it was actually my wife’s mum, we were having dinner, and I was like, ‘This is really irritating’.
“She was like, ‘Pull your pants down, show me, it might be shingles’.
“I was like, ‘OK’.
“Then the next day I got a doctor and she was right.
“I think her son Scott had had it, so she had seen it before.”
Murray was never really in danger of being exposed by world No 51 Jaziri.
The Brit served poorly for much of the match, putting only 40 per cent of his first serves in court, and was broken in the third game.
But he hit back immediately and took full advantage when his Tunisian opponent seemed to wilt in the humidity during the second set.
Murray will take on Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in today’s second round, after Davis Cup team-mate Dan Evans has played Gael Monfils in his own last-16 match.
British No 2 Evans continued his fine start to 2017 with a 6-2 6-3 win over Germany’s Dustin Brown.
But reigning Dubai champ Stan Wawrinka is out, having lost 7-6 6-3 to world No 77 Damir Dzumhur despite leading 4-1 in the first set.
Wawrinka has been struggling with a knee injury since the Australian Open in January.
