Queen’s Club conditions good for Andy Murray

Andy Murray: Recovered from injury. Picture: Getty

World No 2 Murray has recovered from a back injury that forced him to withdraw from the French Open and is now looking forward to the grasscourt season, which he will start in fresher condition than his main rivals who have spent the past two weeks toiling away on the red dirt of Paris. Murray said: “The conditions at Queen’s are perfect. It’s a great setting and the Centre Court is really, really good, so it’s perfect preparation.”

French Open boys’ doubles winner Kyle Edmund is one of four Britons given wild card entries for the Kensington event. Murray, 26, became the first Briton to win the traditional Wimbledon warm-up since Bunny Austin in 1938 when he lifted the famous trophy in 2009. He won again in 2011, but was beaten in the second round by Frenchman Nicolas Mahut last year, before reaching the final of Wimbledon, where he lost to Roger Federer.

“I’ll be short of matches,” Murray added.

“I’ve done enough training over the last ten days or so. I actually did a big training block after Monte Carlo so some of that should still be in there too so it’s just matches that I’ll need.

“Normally, coming from the clay court I’d be match tough, just not used to the surface, whereas this year I won’t be match tight but at least I’ll have had ten days on the grass. It’s also got a lot of history this tournament so it’s a nice one to win and do well at and I’ll try and have a good run.”

Murray’s fellow Scot Jamie Baker will take his place in the main draw of the Aegon Championships after seeing off Marcelo Melo in the final round of qualifying.

Baker defeated the Brazilian, who had beaten Baker’s fellow Briton Alex Bogdanovic earlier in qualifying, 6-2, 6-2 at Queen’s Club and joins compatriots Murray, James Ward, Dan Evans, Edmund and Ed Corrie in the tournament.

Baker faces ninth-seed Benoit Paire on Court Nine today.

The three other winners in qualifying were Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, Australian Sam Groth and Serbia’s Ilija Bozoljac. Evans’ match against Guido Pella is first on centre court at 12.30pm, followed by Ward against Ivan Dodig.

Corrie also plays on day one against French Open semi-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.