Andy Murray says his main aim for the remainder of the year is to improve his current ranking of world No 116.

The Scot was speaking after a 6-3, 6-1 win against German Yannick Maden at the ATP Challenger event in Rennes, France.

“Obviously I would like to try and win the event… [but] most importantly, for me, is just to get matches. I want to keep playing, competing and get my body used to playing two, three, four matches in a week again,” Murray told reporters.

“One of the goals between now and the end of the year is to try and make a big improvement with my ranking, and to do that, I need to be competing often.

“I still feel like I can play a very high level but if all of the time when I go to the big tournaments I play top players right at the beginning of the event, it’s not so easy.

“The Challengers often have good players. We have three guys that have been in the top 10 (Murray, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon). That’s quite rare. There should be some good matches, and it’s nice for the crowd to come out and watch the French players,” he said.

Murray is the first Grand Slam champion to compete in this Challenger Tour event, which started in 2006 when it was won by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The Challenger circuit is the second tier of men’s professional tennis, just below the ATP Tour.

It has been a fall from grace in recent years for Murray, who has not been the same player since getting a metal hip.

He lost in the US Open first round in five sets to Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. The match was, however, shrouded in controversy with Murray taking exception to Tsitsipas taking two lengthy bathroom breaks before winning 2-6, 7-6 (9/7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Murray’s next match in Rennes is against Russian Roman Safiullin (world No 158).

READ | Fuming Andy Murray made TWO rookie mistakes in US Open defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas

Picture: Andy Murray – ATP Challenger Tour/Twitter

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