Murray recalls shingles struggle after Australian Open exit

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Top-seeded Andy Murray said Sunday he is back to his best ahead of the Dubai Tennis Championships after recounting his struggles with shingles following his early exit from the Australian Open last month.

Shingles is a common, painful skin rash.

''I was a bit sick for 10 days, a couple of weeks, after I got back from Australia,'' said Murray, who will play Malek Jaziri of Tunisia in the first round in Dubai. ''I feel fresh and ready to go here.

''I had shingles,'' he added. ''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 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.''

Murray said he's not sure if the illness had already started developing while he was playing in the Australian Open.

The British top-ranked player was upset in a four-set, fourth-round encounter with Mischa Zverev at the first major of the year.

''I didn't play particularly well at the Australian Open,'' Murray said. ''I started to play a bit better as it went on, but not as well as I would've liked.''

This marks Murray's sixth career appearance at the Dubai tournament. His best result was reaching the 2012 final where he lost to Roger Federer.