Andy Murray says back is fine and relishes return to grass at Queen’s

Andy Murray insists his back is fine and believes the return to grass at Queen’s will be less taxing on his body.

The world No 4 recently revealed he has been battling an ongoing back problem since December and seemed to struggle at the French Open.

Murray almost went out in the second round in Paris when his back went into spasm before battling his way into the last eight, where he was knocked out by Spain’s David Ferrer.

The Scot leaves the clay courts behind him this week and is looking forward to starting his grass-court season at the pre-Wimbledon AEGON Championships in west London.

“It is fine,” said Murray when asked about his back. “I practised the last couple of days on the grass.

“It is probably a better surface for us; it is a bit more forgiving than the clay.

“There are a lot of long rallies on the clay, long points, long matches so the grass will probably help it a bit.”

Having been given a first-round bye, Murray begins his title defence against Nicolas Mahut or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Wednesday on Court One.

“I do look forward to the grass-court season,” said the 25-year-old, also the champion at Queen’s in 2009. “You get into a normal routine, which can be different at other tournaments.

“I enjoy the next few months – I enjoy the tennis and you get to have all your friends and family around, so in that respect it’s fairly relaxing.

“It has meant a lot to win the title two out of the last three years. To do well here is always the best possible preparation in the lead-up to Wimbledon.”

Murray will work with coach Ivan Lendl for the entire grass-court season, the longest they have spent together since coming together at the start of the year.

He added: “This period is going to be important for my year, not just with Wimbledon but obviously with the Olympics after as well and the US Open comes around quick.

“The more time I can spend with him over the next few months the better. We’ve worked on many different things and he’s very good fun, everyone is enjoying working with him.”

Murray’s potential third-round opponents include British wildcard Liam Broady, 14th seed Gilles Muller and Grigor Dimitrov. He is joined in West Kensington by former champions Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt.