Murray to end season after playing in Shenzhen and Beijing

[September 22, 2018]  (Reuters) - Andy Murray will end his season after playing in the Shenzhen and Beijing tournaments over the next two weeks to be "in the best possible shape" for the Australian Open in January," the Scot said on Saturday.

The former world number one returned to the ATP tour in June after having hip surgery in January and has played nine competitive matches this year.

He will skip the two Masters series events in Shanghai and Paris next month.

"I'm competing this week in Shenzhen and then next week in Beijing before calling an end to the year competitively and I'm going to miss the last couple of tournaments to the year," the 31-year-old said in video posted on Facebook.

"I need a lot of training and reconditioning to get myself in the best shape possible for the beginning of the 2019 season and to get myself back competing for the biggest tournaments again."

Murray withdrew from Wimbledon and lost in the second round at the U.S. Open last month.

Andy Murray of Great Britain hits to James Duckworth of Australia on day one of the 2018 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports

"I'm looking forward to getting some hard training done and making some more improvements. It's been really positive the last few months and I feel like I've made big strides forward in the rehab from the hip surgery," he added.

(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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