World number one Andy Murray, who turned 30 on Monday, believes he can continue to be on top of his game well into his thirties as long as he can maintain his fitness.

“When I was starting out on the tour, that (30) is around the time when a lot of (players) would have stopped playing or started to struggle,” Murray was quoted as saying by the Times.

“You never know how your body’s going to be and your health. If that’s fine, there is no reason why you can’t compete at the top of the game into your early to mid-thirties. Not everyone is going to be able to do that, you don’t know how good the generation coming up are going to be, if they’re better than the current generation. If that’s the case then I think it becomes more difficult, but I’m hoping it isn’t,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Murray has had a mediocre 2017 season so far. The Scot has won only one title this year, the Dubai Open in February and was recently ousted in the second round of the Madrid Open by unseeded 20-year-old Croat Borna Coric. He has suffered from several injuries layoffs as well, including an elbow injury and shingles early in the year.

However, as the 30-year-old gets ready to defend his Rome Masters title this week – a clay court ttophy he won after defeating arch rival Novak Djokovic in the final – he maintains that he is not taking anything for granted.

“I think a lot can change in 12 months,” Murray said. “I mean, a lot can change in a week in tennis... So I don’t think that just because you do well the previous year means that you’re going to have a good event the next year.”

Andy Murray will face Italy’s Fabio Fognini, ranked 29th in the world, in the second round at Rome.

“(Fognini) is one of the better clay-court players, for sure. He obviously would be highly motivated, I would think, playing in Italy as well. I have had some tough matches with him in the past, so it won’t be easy. I will definitely need to play well in that one to have a chance of winning,” he added.