Signs good for Murray as he makes long-awaited comeback.

Battling qualities evident as Scot loses to friend Kyrgios

Andy Murray said he was feeling “decent” after finally making his comeback following 11 months on the sidelines, but has not ruled out missing Wimbledon.

The three-time grand slam champion played his first competitive match since SW19 last year– 342 days ago– and put in a spirited display in going down to a three-set defeat to Nick Kyrgios at the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club.

Murray, who went under the knife on his hip problem in January, battled hard throughout before eventually going down to a 2-6 7-6 (7/4) 7-5 loss.

He will see how it fully recovers before deciding when to play next, but said it is not a given he will be at Wimbledon next month.

“I won’ t rule anything out just now ,” he said .“I won’ t rule out playing Eastbourne and not playing Wimbledon.

“I wouldn’t rule out not playing a tournament next week and trying to get matches like in an exhibition tournament, as well, to get ready for Wimbledon.

“I’m not sure yet. I’m really happy that I got on the match court today. You know, it was a close decision.

“I have not been practising loads at all. I have been hitting for a couple of weeks and the beginning was only like 30 minutes or so.

“I really haven’t played a whole lot of tennis, so I’m happy I got out there and competed and performed respectably.

“I’ll kind of need to wait and see what happens the next few days and chat with my team about that, because I don’ t know exactly what’s best for me just now.”

Murray did not appear to be troubled by any hip pain during the gruelling two-hour-39-minute match, though he knows the true test will be when he wakes up in the morning. “I’m a bit stiff just now,” he said. “I’ve got kind of normal stuff that you would get after maybe playing on a grass court for the first time in a while.

“At the most, longest I have practised in the last year has been an hour and a half. So I was on the court for significantly longer than that in a more intense environment.”

Kyrgios, ironically, was battling his own hip problem but was able to come through after looking like he was going to be blown away.

Murray won the first set 6-2 after the Australian went rogue, losing four games in a row, which included a service game with four double faults.

The pair are good friends off court and Kyrgios admitted he felt awkward.

“It was kind of good to see him back out there, but it was a very awkward match for me because I was thinking the guy hadn’t played a match in a year, and I was getting smoked in the first set,” he said.

“I was like, ‘This is not going to be a good look if I lose this match’.”

Kyrgios now faces British No 1 Kyle Edmund who gave British fans something to cheer about as he took the first set on a tiebreak 7-6 (7/4) against Ryan Harrison.

Edmund was then broken early on by his American opponent but hit back immediately to win the second – and the match – 6-4.

Dan Evans snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in his first match back on the ATP Tour since his drugs ban.

The Briton served for the match in his first-round match with Adrian Mannarino but ended up losing 6-4 0-6 7-5.

Evans will find out today if he has been handed a wild card into this year’s Wimbledon. l World No 1 Roger Federer extended his unbeaten run on grass to 17 matches by beating Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene in the Halle Open first round.

The 36-year-old Swiss, who lifted the Stuttgart title last week, won 6-3 6-4.

Next up for Federer, who is chasing a record-extending 10th title in Halle, is Frenchman Benoit Paire.

British No 1 Johanna Konta was beaten 6-3 6-4 by defending champion Petra Kvitova in the first round of the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham.

Getty. Andy Murray shows his fighting spirit in his long-awaited comeback match against Nick Kyrgios.