Murray’s at Fever pitchnow
ANDY MURRAY will return to competitive tennis this week at Queen’s Club after almost a year out of the game.
The three-time major winner has not played since last year’s Wimbledon due to a hip injury and subsequent surgery.
He practised at Queen’s on Friday ahead of this week’s Fever-tree Championships, delayed a decision until yesterday, and then told tournament officials he would be there.
Murray said: “I’ve been practising the last couple of weeks and obviously building up each day. I started playing sets about a week ago.
“So I played probably seven or eight sets, and I wanted to see how I felt the following day after playing a couple of sets with Cam Norrie on Friday.
“I got tested by my physios this morning to make sure I hadn’t stiffened up and lost any range of motion in my hip – which can happen when you’re tired and the hip’s a bit angry.
Volatile
“That wasn’t the case. That was all positive and I pulled up pretty well from that, so then I decided to go for it.’’
If 31-year-old Murray was hoping for a gentle return, he soon had that thought ended.
The draw paired him against Nick Kyrgios – the supremely gifted but occasionally volatile Australian – ranked No.24 in the world.
Murray has never lost to Kyrgios in five meetings, but is expecting a difficult match.
The Scot said: “He’s always a tough guy to play against.
“He’s got a brilliant serve and obviously he’s very, very talented. He’s unpredictable as well. The positive is that there probably won’t be loads of long points.
“Points can be quite sharp with him, which is good, but obviously it’s a very tricky match with the way that he plays and how comfortable he is on the grass.”
Elsewhere in the draw, British No.1 Kyle Edmund will take on American Ryan Harrison, while Dan Evans, who will be playing his first ATP Tour event since a year’s ban for taking cocaine, faces France’s Adrian Mannarino.