Andy Murray ready to challenge for title in Dubai after a disappointing 2017 Australian Open

Andy Murray, who is set to compete in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, took his game to another level in 2016 as he became the first player to win a Grand Slam, the ATP World Tour Finals, the men's singles at the Olympic Games and a Masters 1000 titles in the same calendar year. But to top it off, he also became the No.1 ranked men's tennis player for the first time after he defeated Novak Djokovic at the ATP World Tour Finals.

Also read: World Tennis schedule 2017

After such an outstanding year in 2016, it was expected that his 2017 would be similar and he was expected to be a serious contender at the Australian Open this year, but the Brit suffered a shock defeat at the hands of German Mischa Zverev. While that loss was really disappointing, he said he is over it and intends to get back and play good tennis.

"I was disappointed obviously with the loss and I feel like I could have done some things a bit better. I'm trying to get back to playing good tennis here and hopefully I can" ATP official website quoted him as saying.

Andy Murray had a slight illness after he returned home from the Australian Open as he was diagnosed with shingles. The World No.1 did not notice anything during his time in Australia, but he did see a doctor when he returned home and was told to rest for two weeks.

"I was a bit sick for 10 days, a couple of weeks, after I got back from Australia. I had shingles. It's not terrible, but it's not great. I had to go easy for a little while, so I wasn't able to push myself that hard in training when I got back into it. But I'm fine now and have been training flat out the last two weeks."

Since his early exit from the Australian Open, Andy Murray is set to get back into the court for the first time and is set to compete in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. His opponent for the first round is Tunisia's Malek Jaziri and Murray will be determined to get his 2017 season going as he looks to maintain his No.1 spot.

"I'm not looking far ahead. I know Malek fairly well. I've seen him play. He's very talented. He plays with a lot of slice backhands. He's quite aggressive on his forehand... I think he quite likes the conditions here so I'm concentrating on that one. I feel fresh and ready to go here" Murray said.