Andy back at Queen’s with eye on SW19

ANDY MURRAY confirmed hi s comeback for Queen’s Club this week and was then rewarded with a firstround match against tempestuous Frenchman Benoit Paire. The double Wimbledon champion will make his first singles appearance since the start of March at the Cinch Championships, having abandoned plans to compete on clay due to ongoing complications with his right hip.

Now he will face Paire, who has become the plaintive voice of players who have st ruggled within t he restrictions of the tennis bubble. His general behaviour has earned him a ban from the French Olympic team and he has particularly disliked playing in front of empty stadiums, admitting at times that he is going through the motions.

Murray has been through a hard time for different reasons and has been practising at Wimbledon in the hope of playing there this month.

He is no longer the leading British entry but one of five in the field; the others being Dan Evans, Cam Norrie and wildcards Jack Draper and Liam Broady. Kyle Edmund is absent after knee surgery.

It is an unusually poor field for a tournament that begins tomorrow in front of crowds only 25 per cent of the normal spectator intake. Jo Konta’s liking for Nottingham shone through again as she reached today’s final of the Viking Open. The British No 1 edged out Serbia’s Nina Stojanovic 6-2, 6-7, 7-5, having missed a match point when she served for the second set.

She was made to work hard for the win and will now face China’s Shuai Zhang, who beat American Lauren Davis 6-4, 6-3.

Konta, who split with coach Dimitri Zavialoff before the tournament, is delighted t o be back playing in s o mething a pproachi ng nor mal conditions: ‘This is the biggest crowd I have played in front of for a long time so it feels like playing on a full Arthur Ashe stadium,’ she said.

‘The final is just another match but it’s a privilege to be there. It’s my first final in two years so I’m going to try to enjoy it.’

Meanwhile Wimbledon officials yesterday denied that they have already been told by the Government that they can double attendance to around 20,000 a day this summer via a vaccine passport scheme or as a Covid trial event.

A spokesperson said that talks which have been ongoing for weeks, are continuing. The All England Club are have made no secret of their wish to i ncrease their daily crowd l i mit beyond the 25 per cent that has been stipulated.