NEW YORK -- There were no fans in the seats to chant his name, no electricity emanating from that sea of empty seats and no energy to be gained from anywhere but deep inside himself, where Andy Murray once again found the grit that has been the trademark of his career.
After losing the first two sets of his first-round singles match in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday at the US Open, Murray, ranked No. 115, mounted a fierce comeback to defeat Yoshihito Nishioka 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-4.
"It was a pretty special one to get through," said Murray, who trailed the No. 49-ranked Nishioka, 24, by two sets and a break and eliminated match point in the fourth set. "I didn't play my best. There was no one there watching. It was a long five-setter, my first one in a long time. So yeah, it was a great effort to get through."
It was great but not atypical. When it was over, Murray, 33, collapsed in his courtside chair, stripped off his perspiration-soaked wristbands and hurled them to the ground. He punctuated the gesture with a prolonged bellow of satisfaction. Then he carefully filled a plastic bag with the detritus around his chair, including nine empty 25.3-ounce water bottles.
Fans? Who needs fans?
The career of three-time Grand Slam champion Murray was compromised by hip pain not long after he finished 2016 as the ATP No. 1. He has had two hip surgeries and a number of false starts since then, but he never gave up hope.
Murray, who will face 15th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 20-year-old from Canada, in the second round, decided to travel to New York and play in this US Open, part of a two-tournament doubleheader that marks the official return of the ATP Tour. The champion here in 2012, Murray wanted to play free of pain and enjoy himself.
"When I spoke to my team a couple months ago, that was really all I wanted: to get hopefully to the US Open feeling pretty pain-free so that I could go out and play and enjoy playing in a Grand Slam again," he said.
Joy had very little bearing on Murray's first match back on the familiar turf of Arthur Ashe Stadium. He put himself through a grueling physical and emotional wringer for more than four-and-a-half hours, but unlike in recent years, he was delighted with the result.
"The last three years, I was not particularly happy playing tennis because I was miserable, and it was uncomfortable, and my body hurt. That didn't feel good," Murray said. "Now ... I'm not sitting here with my hip throbbing and aching. I'll be able to sleep fine tonight and things like that. Yeah, my quality of life is significantly better."
Murray had some help in the late stages of the match from an unexpected source: the number of players who gathered to watch him as he fought his way back. The seeded players here have been given the use of the luxury boxes to take in the action. Among those who were compelled by the unfolding saga: the top two men's seeds, Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem, and Venus Williams.
Williams' match followed Murray's, and she didn't mind having to wait to take the court as Murray battled back.
"Usually when you're waiting for a match [and] someone is down two sets, you root for the person that's ahead so you can get on the court and get off,'' Williams said.
"I was rooting for Andy the whole time. I really wanted him to win,'' Williams said. "Gosh, when he was down in the third set, I was like, 'All right!' I was just rooting for him so hard.''
Murray appreciated the support.
"I was saying that for me [that] was one of the things that helped," Murray said. "It's rare that you have lots of players watching your match. In some ways that can be a little bit distracting if you look up and you've got guys that are in the top five, top 10 in the world watching you and stuff."
This time, because of the lack of fans, those faces were less distracting and more uplifting, as were the presences of Murray's father-in-law and brother, Jamie, a doubles specialist. Others who are not at this tournament because of the limit on personnel allowed on-site in this controlled environment reached out to Murray from long distances.
"When I got back to the locker room, I sort of look at my phone, see the messages from family and friends, the team and stuff," Murray said. "They're the people that have kind of seen me go through everything, been there, seen the tough times. I don't know how many of us actually believed I'd be back kind of winning matches like that."
A player who can appreciate Murray's journey perhaps as much as anyone is Andrey Kuznetsov, a 29-year-old Russian who missed about 2½ years because of a hip injury. Kuznetsov eliminated Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-5 (6), 6-2, becoming the first unranked man to win a Grand Slam match since Nicolas Kiefer at Wimbledon in 2007.
Kuznetsov completed his long comeback with his first tour-level win since 2017. He returned to play last month at a Prague Challenger event and lost his only match after a two-year, seven-month layoff because of the hip.
Also Tuesday, Sumit Nagal became the first Indian man in seven years to win a match at the US Open. The resident of New Delhi beat Bradley Klahn 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Nagal, 23, came in ranked No. 124 in the world.
Wild card J.J. Wolf pulled off an upset, beating 29th-seeded Guido Pella 6-2, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. The 21-year-old Wolf is in the main draw for the first time. Pella reached the third round of the US Open in 2018 and the third round of the Australian Open earlier this year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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