Andy Murray steps down to Challenger tour

Injury-plagued former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray will play on the Challenger Tour for the first time in 14 years next week in a bid to get his career back on track.

The Scot's entry into the Rafa Nadal Open at the Spaniard's academy on his home island of Majorca was confirmed on Thursday.

The former world No.1 has lost both of the singles matches he has played since returning from January's hip surgery and, with the US Open starting on Monday, is dropping down a level as he builds up his match fitness.

Murray, now ranked 329, was beaten by Richard Gasquet in Cincinnati last week in his first singles contest since the Australian Open, then lost to Tennys Sandgren at the Winston-Salem Open on Monday.

He will return to ATP level at the Zhuhai Championships beginning on September 23 and has also committed to the China Open and the European Open in Antwerp.

Murray's last appearance at Challenger level came in Mons in Belgium in October 2005 as an 18-year-old.

He had reached his first ATP Tour final the week before in Bangkok and retired in the quarter-finals.

Murray won two Challenger titles earlier the same year but progressed quickly through that level, finishing 2005 ranked 64th in the world.