Andy Murray looking forward to "new experience" of starting grass court season in Stuttgart

Andy Murray will begin his preparations for next year's Wimbledon Championships by appearing at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart for the first time. The 34-year-old declared he is "always" looking forward to the grass court season and wanted to extend it in 2022 by adding another event to his schedule.

The World No. 134 will then play at the Queen's Club Championships, where he is a five-time champion, before Wimbledon. Three-time Wimbledon winner Murray made his first singles appearance since 2017 at the grass court Major this year.

The MercedesCup is an ATP 250 tournament played at the Tennis Club Weissenhof in Stuttgart, Germany. Marin Cilic beat Felix Auger-Aliassime to win this year's edition.

"Not only Santa has great surprises for you today," the MercedesCup account captioned in a Twitter post. "We‘re proud to announce that @andy_murray will start next year‘s #RoadToWimbledon in #Stuttgart."

In an announcement on the tournament's website, Murray discussed his intention to alter his Wimbledon preparations by starting his grass court season earlier.

"I’m always looking forward to the grass court season, so I’ll start earlier with my preparations next year," Murray said. "For the first time, I will play in Stuttgart and I’m very much looking forward to this new experience."

"My body is feeling good and I gain more confidence with each match" - Andy Murray

Andy Murray at the 2021 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells

In the announcement piece, Murray also discussed playing a packed schedule to end the 2021 season. The former World No.1 spoke positively about his game and physical condition.

"Lately, I’ve been playing lots of tournaments," Murray said. "My body is feeling good and I gain more confidence with each match. I’m hitting the ball the way I want to."

Murray played 11 events from Cincinnati in August until the end of the year, after playing just five prior to that due to injury. The Brit is set to play Dominic Thiem in the Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament on 16 December.

"Exciting news! British tennis great, @andy_murray and rising star @EmmaRaducanu will be competing at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in #Abudhabi from 16-18 December," UKinUAE captioned in a Twitter post.